NBA 2K26’s new face revealed: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander takes over from the league’s biggest stars

2K Games has revealed the player who will star on the cover of NBA 2K26, and for those who followed the NBA Finals, it’s no surprise: Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be the face of the franchise’s next title.

The announcement was made through social networks, confirming that Gilgeous-Alexander will be the face of this new release. And no wonder: he had a historic season, in which he was crowned MVP of the Western Conference Finals and MVP of the NBA Finals, joining an elite that he only shares with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan. In addition, he led the league in points per game, with an average of 32.7 points, and, if that wasn’t enough, he won the championship.

After years of appearing in NBA 2K promotional material, Shai finally reaches the place that many anticipated: the official cover of the game.

A cover for history

Appearing on the cover of a sports video game is not only an honor, it is also a way to immortalize the impact of a player in a specific season. In NBA 2K, past legends such as Michael Jordan, Larry Bird or “Magic” Johnson in NBA 2K12 and, in an emotional special edition, the late Kobe Bryant in NBA 2K21 have appeared.

NBA 2K has also had the tradition of having different basketball players in its different editions, having between 2 and 4 editions per year, so we will have to wait to see who else will grace these editions. For now, NBA 2K26 does not have a release date, but we will keep an eye out for an official date, although traditionally, the title developed by Visual Concepts arrives in the first week of September.

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