All the cover athletes for the multiple editions of NBA 2K26 have finally been revealed, and one of them is a GameStop exclusive again. Yesterday, it was announced that the 2024-2025 season MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, will be the NBA 2K26 standard edition cover athlete. The NBA 2K games typically have several different editions, featuring additional athletes, and this year's entry is mostly the same, with one key difference: a total of four editions.
According to a press release, the four different editions of the game are: NBA 2K26 Standard Edition, NBA 2K26 WNBA Edition, NBA 2K26 Superstar Edition and NBA 2K26 Leave No Doubt Edition. Gilgeous-Alexander will appear solo on the standard edition, while AT&T WNBA all-star Angel Reese will be the cover athlete for the WNBA edition; the physical version of that edition is a GameStop exclusive. Carmelo Anthony will be the star of the Superstar Edition, and all three of them will come together on the cover of the No Doubt Edition.
All Cover Athletes For Every NBA 2K26 Edition Have Been Revealed
Modern Legends Of The Sport Come Together
For the Standard Edition, Gilgeous-Alexander, one of the biggest stars in modern basketball, will take center stage. He's currently the Oklahoma City Thunder Point Guard and is the fourth player in NBA history (after legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, and Shaquille O'Neal) to win MVP, Finals MVP, and a scoring title all in the same season. He also appeared in NBA 2K25 as one of the best overall characters in the game, after a post-release update.
Cover art for EA Sports College Football 26. Related
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Reese will be the focus of the WNBA Edition of the game. She's currently signed as a Chicago Sky Forward player, and she was also a member of the 2024 All-Rookie team. She will be the second WNBA star to grace an NBA 2K game cover, after NBA 2K25 had a dual-cover with both the male and female cover athletes.
Anthony will appear on the Superstar Edition cover. He is a 2025 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee, a three-time Olympic Gold Medalist, and he also played on the NBA 75th anniversary team.
Finally, all three of them will appear together for the game's Leave No Doubt Edition. There currently isn't any additional information about the version differences, but those details should be coming sometime soon.
WNBA Edition Is A GameStop Exclusive This Year For The Physical Version
It's A Tradition Now
NBA 2K26 Kelsey Plum
The athletes that are appearing on the NBA 2K26 covers aren't surprising; they are all modern greats of basketball. What might be surprising to some is the physical version of the WNBA Edition being a GameStop exclusive yet again. NBA 2K25 WNBA Edition, which had A'ja Wilson on the cover, was a physical only, GameStop exclusive as well. Additionally, the physical version of the WNBA Edition will only be available in the US.
Now that all the cover athletes have been revealed, fans are likely full of excitement. These are all great choices for a cover to represent the current competitive level of basketball, and the cover arts themselves look stunning. Hopefully, fans will be satisfied when the gameplay of NBA 2K26 is revealed, too, improving what fans didn't enjoy about the previous game and capitalizing on its previous successes. NBA 2K26 and its many editions are due for release in September.
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