21) NBA 2K19 – 2018-19 LeBron James (2)īron is on the cover of the 20th anniversary edition of 2K. Iverson was suspended by the team, missed some time with injury, and the Sixers missed the playoffs. This was a few years after the “practice” rant that still gets referenced in comedy shows 20 years later. 22) ESPN NBA Basketball (NBA 2K4) – 2003-04 Allen Iverson (5) He still put down a 25/7/4, but again, this was a little 2K curse-ish. This was the year where KD had a ton of foot problems, suffering a Jones fracture in his right foot, and missing time all year until officially shutting it down in late-March. The Heat went on a late winning streak to finish 8th in the East and were promptly swept by Chicago. Or maybe they were going great, that’s actually pretty hilarious. So yeah things weren’t going so well for the Big Deez. This was Shaq’s second consecutive 2K cover, but this time he missed 35 games with knee surgery, and called Phil Jackson Benedict Arnold before a Christmas game. All we know is Derrick Rose didn’t play in 2012-13, and thus, that was the worst 2K cover season. Maybe the plans were already in motion, who knows. It’s hard to say this is a curse since the injury happened before they put him on the cover. During game one of the 2011 NBA Playoffs Derrick Rose tore his ACL. But if you wanted to make the case that there was a 2K curse, this would be Exhibit A. NBA 2K13 had three players grace the cover, so we’re not gonna show you that cover quite yet. We’re gonna split this up into tiers, starting with numbers 25-19 in a tier I’m calling, The 2K Curse? The 2K Curse? 25) NBA 2K13 – 2012-13 Derrick Rose 2012-13 Shout out to the one Canadian version of 2K that has DeMar on the cover. There are 25 different cover seasons on this list - we are skipping any retired legend, and any country-specific cover only for time purposes. We’re Operation Sports, I’m Matt Ederer, and this is Every NBA 2K cover season, ranked. So let’s quickly get into a brief history of the NBA 2K cover and establish how cursed it really is with a quick ranking of (mostly) every cover season in 2K history. Well, we wouldn’t be Operation Sports if we didn’t do the odd deep dive. This of course begs the question - is every sports game evil? Does the 2K cover carry a curse? Are the 2K cover players generally far better off than their Madden counterparts? And who is the 2K cover MVP? Certain players who have appeared on the Madden cover have gone on to some rough patches in their careers and lives. Now, Madden is known to have a curse, if you will. Candace Parker will appear on the WNBA 25th anniversary editionĬongratulations to all of those players, and to 2K Sports for coming up with a cool art style - beats the pants off of the last seven EA Sports covers.Rui Hatchimura will be on the Japanese release.Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Durant will be on the NBA 75th Anniversary Edition.

Luka Doncic will be on the cover of the Standard Edition.We’ll get into the finer points of the NBA 2K22 cover in a moment, but let’s shout out the six different cover athletes for NBA 2K22: This is what got me thinking about ranking just about every NBA 2K cover athlete there has been through the years. Yes, Madden is quote-unquote “more popular” However, the NBA 2K cover doesn’t injure you and end your career. The NBA 2K cover has, in a way, become the most highly sought after cover in sports gaming. As soon as the real season ends, 2K season begins. As the dust settles on the 2021 NBA season, and as the city of Milwaukee gets even more drunk than usual, we have officially entered that first big wave of NBA 2K22 info.

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