Starting in the 1999-00 season, NBA 2K became a staple of basketball gaming, eventually becoming the most popular game for NBA aficionados.
An important aspect of NBA 2K and something that’s become quite the prestigious honor is finding out which player will be the game’s cover athlete every year.
For the first five editions of the game, from the original NBA 2K through ESPN NBA Basketball (2K4), the cover athlete was Allen Iverson. Then came Ben Wallace, then Shaquille O’Neal, and then multiple other superstars after them.
Iverson (2K, 2K1, 2K2, 2K3 and 2K4) and Michael Jordan (2K11, 2K12, 2K16 and two 2K23 editions) lead the way so far with five different covers.
Below is a gallery of every NBA 2K cover in the game’s history.