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.

Kobe Bryant aka Black Mamba leads the way so far with six different covers (2K10, 2K17, and two editions for 2K21 and 2K24), followed by Iverson (2K, 2K1, 2K2, 2K3 and 2K4) and Michael Jordan (2K11, 2K12, 2K16 and two 2K23 editions).

Below is a gallery of every NBA 2K cover in the game’s history.

2K25

Jayson Tatum

2K25 All-Star Edition

Jayson Tatum and A’ja Wilson

2K25 Hall Of Fame Edition

Vince Carter

2K25 WNBA Edition

A’ja Wilson

2K24 Kobe Bryant Edition

Kobe Bryant

2K24 Black Mamba Edition

Kobe Bryant

2K24 25th Anniversary Edition

2K24 WNBA Edition

Sabrina Ionescu

2K23

Devin Booker

2K23 Digital Deluxe Edition

Devin Booker

2K23 Michael Jordan Edition

Michael Jordan

2K23 Championship Edition

2k cover

Michael Jordan

2K23 WNBA Edition

Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird

2K23 Dreamer Edition

J. Cole

2K22

Luka Doncic

2K22 NBA 75th Anniversary Edition

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Durant

2K22 Cross-Gen Digital Bundle

NBA 2K22 Cross-Gen Digital Bundle

Luka Doncic

2K22 WNBA 25th Anniversary Special Edition

2K22 WNBA

Candace Parker

2K21

Damian Lillard

2K21 Mamba Forever Edition

Kobe Bryant

2K21 Mamba Forever Edition variant

Kobe Bryant

2K21 Next Gen Edition

Zion Williamson

2K20

Anthony Davis

2K20 Legend Edition

Dwyane Wade, 2K20

Dwyane Wade

2K19

2K19, Giannis Antentokounmpo

Giannis Antetokounmpo

2K19 20th Anniversary Edition

LeBron James

2K19 Australia and New Zealand Edition

Ben Simmons

2K18

Kyrie Irving

2K18 Early Tip-Off Edition

Kyrie Irving

2K18 Legend Edition Gold

Shaquille O’Neal

2K18 Legend Edition

Shaquille O’Neal

2K18 Canada Edition

DeMar DeRozan

2K17

Paul George

2K17 Legend Edition

Kobe Bryant

2K17 Spain Edition

Pau Gasol

2K17 Italy Edition

Danilo Gallinari

2K16 Stephen Curry Cover

Stephen Curry

2K16 Anthony Davis Cover

Anthony Davis

2K16 James Harden Cover

James Harden

2K16 Special Edition

2K16, Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan

2K16 France Edition

Tony Parker

2K16 Germany Edition

Dennis Schroeder

2K16 Spain Edition

Marc Gasol and Pau Gasol

2K15

Kevin Durant

2K14

LeBron James

2K13

Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose

2K12 Michael Jordan Cover

Michael Jordan

2K12 Magic Johnson Cover

Magic Johnson

2K12 Larry Bird Cover

Larry Bird

2K11

Michael Jordan

2K10

Kobe Bryant

2K9

Kevin Garnett

2K8

Chris Paul

2K7

Shaquille O’Neal

2K6

Shaquille O’Neal

ESPN NBA 2K5

Ben Wallace

ESPN NBA Basketball (2K4)

Allen Iverson

2K3

Allen Iverson

2K2

Allen Iverson

2K1

Allen Iverson

2K

Allen Iverson

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