12 Players Who Should Be On the Cover of NBA 2K27

The NBA offseason is here, and as such, one of the things that basketball fans that also happen to be gamers look forward to is debating who should be on the cover of the next iteration of NBA 2K.

Of course, it's also a topic where you really need to put personal biases aside. For example, I'm a huge Indiana Pacers fan, and as much as I'd love to see Tyrese Haliburton or Pascal Siakam on the cover, that's... not exactly realistic – at least not after the 2025-2026 season (but just wait till next year).

So with the Knicks now crowned as the newest NBA champs and plenty of time to waste until the league tips off again next season, let's discuss who should be the next cover athlete for NBA 2K27.

10 Allen Iverson

The OG

2K is no stranger to having retired athletes grace the covers of their games, though (aside from Kobe for 2K24), they're usually relegated to a special edition cover, and not the more famous standard edition. As amazing as Allen Iverson was back in the day, you still might think it's an odd choice for him to be the only retired player I've selected here to get the standard edition nod once again.

But if that is your thought process, you might be forgetting that way back when 2K first became a franchise, AI was the cover athlete for the game's first five iterations. It then would be a very cool throwback to get Iverson back on the cover after all these years and remind the youths out there just how awesome he was. Still, odds are that a current player will be the cover star in 2027, but here's to wishful thinking.

9 Cade Cunningham

Detroit Rising

Cade Cunningham has obviously been hyped for a while as a former #1 overall draft pick, but it really was this last season that his true stardom really began to take shape. The Pistons were perhaps the biggest surprise of the regular season and wound up as the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Cade was the main reason why.

With the absence of Haliburton in the East this year, Cade solidified himself as the second-best point guard in the conference. Even as a Pacers fan and Hali truther, I have to admit Cade might still be second only to Brunson at the one spot even if Tyrese was healthy too. It'll be fun to see how the point guard hierarchy plays out from here, but either way, Cade is amazing, and a face for the league moving forward.

8 Donovan Mitchell

Cleveland's Favorite Arachnid

Donovan Mitchell would obviously have a better case for the cover if the Cavs would've shown up more in the Conference Finals against the Knicks, but let's be honest... James Harden sold that series hard. It's difficult to really fault Mitchell for the team coming up short down the stretch.

In fact, Donovan Mitchell is kind of turning into the poster child of dragging teams much further into the postseason than they really deserve thanks to his sheer determination, talent, and ability to completely take a game over with an entire team on his back. He's a fun, likable player, and one I'd be happy to see on the cover of 2K.

7 Cooper Flagg

Respect for the ROTY

There's something fun about picking a young gun to throw on the cover of a game, and Cooper Flagg was clearly the best rookie this season, living up to the hype throughout his high school and college careers before becoming the obvious #1 draft pick selection by Dallas.

It's still a bit annoying (and frankly suspicious) that Flagg wound up in Dallas after the Luka trade, but that's a conversation for another day. Cooper Flagg is clearly going to become a mainstay in the league for a long time, make plenty of all-star teams, and only get better from here, so it would make sense for 2K to cash-in early and get him on the cover.

6 Stephen Curry/LeBron James/Kevin Durant

The Old Guard

In previous seasons, 2K hasn't been afraid to throw multiple athletes onto the same cover of the game. There's an argument that a shared cover might take away some of the special-ness as opposed to having that singular, celebrated cover star, but one featuring LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry would still be awesome nonetheless.

Of course, all three of these guys have been on 2K covers before, but we're getting to a point in all three of their careers where we just don't know how much longer we're going to get to watch them play. LeBron specifically probably only has one or two more seasons left, and KD/Steph aren't exactly spring chickens anymore either. One last cover celebrating all three icons together would go very hard, I can't lie.

5 Luka Dončić (Again)

But Now in Purple and Gold

Luka Dončić has been on the cover of NBA 2K before, but... well, a lot has changed since the last time for 2K22. At this point, it's a bit weird to look back and see a 2K cover with Luka on the Mavs, because that bridge back to Dallas has been burned for a while now.

These days, Dončić has become the best player on the most high-profile team in the league, and it's actually not particularly close anymore (despite LeBron's greatness and the respect I really do have for him). Luka's stats alone with LAL have been nothing short of absolutely bananas, and he's quite easily a Top 5 player in the league that I would not be mad to see at all on the cover of 2K again, but this time in his new threads.

4 Nikola Jokić

Not That He Would Care

Though it's been a couple seasons now since he's won the MVP, and even longer since his first and only title win, Nikola Jokić is easily the best player in the NBA that's never been on the cover of NBA 2K. In a way, I get it. He's not the most exciting, dynamic player to put on the cover. Heck, I'd be absolutely shocked if The Joker even cared one iota about being the cover athlete anyway.

While Jokić really just wants to ride his horses and only plays basketball to pay the bills, he's still quite clearly one of the greatest basketball players of all time, and it's a shame he's never been on the cover. With SGA now winning back-to-back MVPs and other centers rising in stardom, the window for Jokić on a video game cover might be closing, so it would be cool to see him get the nod this year.

3 Anthony Edwards

The Heir Apparent

When he's on, Anthony Edwards is probably the most exciting player in the entire NBA. His career thus far has been dotted with some disappointing playoff exits as well as some concerns around effort in general now and then, but let's also keep it 100 here: Anthony Edwards freakin' rules.

2K tends to favor the high-flying, dynamic-type players, and there's not a better representative in the modern NBA than Ant-Man. Whether or not you subscribe to the conspiracy theory that he's Michael Jordan's long-lost son, Ant is easily the closest Jordan-esque archetype we have in the league today, and he'd be a great fit for 2K27.

2 Victor Wembanyama

I Believe in Aliens

If the recent leaks are true, the next cover star of NBA 2K is actually going to be Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs, and it totally makes sense. Unless you're a Knicks or Thunder fan, Wemby has probably quickly become your favorite player in the NBA that's not on your favorite team (or you're a Spurs fan, and I'm jealous).

Wemby and his Alien nickname are a match made in the cosmic heavens, as the French center is already doing things on the basketball court that we've never seen before. He's incredible to watch, and the league is his oyster for the next decade. If he does end up on the cover, he'll be deserving, though I'd argue it's still not his year (even if every other year after this one will be).

1 Jalen Brunson

The Champ is Here

As I mentioned earlier, I'm a Pacers fan. Tyrese Haliburton is my favorite player in the league. And I still can't think of anyone more deserving of the NBA 2K27 cover than Jalen Brunson despite the Knicks being my team's biggest eternal rival. What Brunson accomplished this season and in the playoffs was one of the most impressive things I've ever seen as a lifelong hoops fan, and he deserves all the credit and recognition coming his way for bringing a trophy back to NYC.

In a way, and as much as I love Wemby, it's really going to be a shame if he gets the cover over Brunson. The Knicks made pretty easy work of everyone in the postseason on the way to their title, and Brunson was the engine the took them all the way to the top of the mountain. Give the guy his flowers. This should be your NBA 2K27 cover athlete, bottom line.