Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Featured As Cover Athlete For NBA 2K26
It's been a historic year for Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Following an impressive run as the headliner for Canada at the 2024 Olympics in Paris last summer, he set his sights on the 2024-25 NBA season, which proved to be a campaign full of accolades for Gilgeous-Alexander.
On his way to leading the Thunder to its first-ever NBA Championship, he won the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award, along with a scoring title, an All-Star nod, All-NBA honors, Western Conference Finals MVP and NBA Finals MVP.
And now, Gilgeous-Alexander will earn yet another prestigious honor, but this time off the court. The 26-year-old will officially be the cover athlete on the standard edition of NBA 2K26. When the game releases in September, the Thunder star will be the face of this year's game. Gilgeous-Alexander will be the first Thunder player to grace the cover of the game since NBA 2K15, when Kevin Durant held that honor.
While it isn't surprising to see the Thunder superstar get the nod for this iteration of the game given how quickly he's risen in becoming a face of the NBA, there has been some level of foreshadowing about this potentially happening.
"The guys that we work with, are people that authentically play and are historians of 2K. He is just a delight to work with, he is a really good dude and he obviously aligns with a lot of the things that we align with with fashion and music,' said Ronnie 2K last August when discussing Gilgeous-Alexander. "I'd like to say he is a future cover athlete, one day I hope that happens.'
That day has officially come. To further quantify the impact Gilgeous-Alexander has on the modern game and the following he has worldwide, he now joins a short but elite list of players to be featured as NBA 2K cover athletes.
While NBA 2K26 won't release until September, several weeks before the start of the 2025-26 season, pre-orders will begin tomorrow. Furthermore, Gilgeous-Alexander will be part of a larger group of cover athletes, as the gaming franchise is expected to release several editions alongside the standard that features the Thunder star. This game series is a yearly release that is always highly anticipated and one of the biggest sports games of the year.
Gilgeous-Alexander was rated a 96 overall when NBA 2K25 released last year, but finished the season with a 98 rating. It will be fascinating to see where he sits for the release of NBA 2K26. He's now in the conversation as the best player in the entire world, especially given he's gotten it done on the biggest stage.
This is just the beginning for Gilgeous-Alexander, who is just now entering his prime, coming off a championship win and a new record-breaking contract and a signature shoe set to release this fall. At the rate he's progressing both on and off the court, he's headed toward being an all-time great in the sport of basketball.
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