NBA 2K24 isn’t launching until September, presumably, but the annual hype cycle starts today with the reveal of one of the game’s cover athletes. Visual Concepts and 2K Sports have announced that Kobe Bryant, the late great Lakers legend, will return to the cover of the series for the fourth time. He will be on the cover of the NBA 2K24 Black Mamba Edition and the standard edition, known this year as the Kobe Bryant Edition. Other cover athletes may be revealed at a later date as the series has often featured multiple cover stars in some years.
Bryant played in the NBA for 20 seasons, all of them for the Los Angeles Lakers, earning All-Star designations in all but two seasons. He also won five NBA championships, was a 15-time member of an All-NBA Team, a 12-time member of an All-Defensive Team, the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), and a two-time NBA Finals MVP. He is one of the most decorated players in league history. You can see the commemorative cover art for this fall’s game below.
Bryant, as well his daughter and seven other passengers, tragically died in a helicopter crash in 2020, which meant his third appearance on the cover of NBA 2K (2K10, 2K17, 2K21) that fall was his first of now two posthumous appearances.