Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to be cover athlete for NBA 2K26

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to be cover athlete for NBA 2K26

First, an MVP, followed by an NBA Title, NBA Finals MVP, a max extension and, now, a cover athlete.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was dubbed the cover athlete for NBA 2K26 on Tuesday, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania was among the first to report. The game won’t be released until September 2025.

Summer of SGA: MVP award, league scoring title, an NBA championship, Finals MVP, a $285 million super max extension, first signature shoe release … and now Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will grace the new cover of NBA 2K26, per sources.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 8, 2025

Gilgeous-Alexander, who turns 27-years-old this week, averaged a league-most 32.7 points per game on 51.9 percent shooting, including 37.5 percent from deep and 89.8 percent from the free-throw line across 76 games this season. That came in addition to 5.0 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game.

He averaged 29.9 points and 6.5 assists on 46.2 percent shooting and 57.4 percent true shooting in this year’s postseason, including 30.3 points during this year’s NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers.

Over the last three seasons, Gilgeous-Alexander has eclipsed 30.0 points, finishing in the top-5 in MVP in each of his previous two seasons before taking home the award this year. The three-time All-NBA honoree is one of the most surgical in-between scorers in the sport, finishing in the 93rd percentile or better in mid-range scoring and in the 77th percentile or better in effective field goal percentage each of the last two seasons, according to Cleaning The Glass.

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At the time of this publishing, 2K has still not released the official cover of the game. But it should come to no surprise that Gilgeous-Alexander is the new cover athlete, becoming the second-straight reigning champion to grace the front of the lauded video game (Jayson Tatum was cover athlete for NBA 2K24).

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