NBA 2K26 Announces MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as Cover Star

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has had as close to a perfect season as you’ll see in the NBA. Not only did the star guard pick up his first MVP award for his dominant regular season performance, but he also led the young OKC Thunder to the franchise’s first title since leaving Seattle and picked up Finals MVP with 30 points, six assists, and two steals a night. It might’ve been closer than many expected, thanks to an Indiana Pacers team that just wouldn’t quit, but you’d be hard pressed to find many faults with SGA’s season. And now, he’s adding yet another accolade, as the team at 2K Sports announced that the Canadien is becoming the next cover athlete for NBA 2K26 when it launches later this year.

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In the announcement, the developers didn’t share many details about what to expect. For anyone who has been keeping up with 2K over the last few cycles, that’s not too surprising. The developer likes to string things, so don’t expect to hear much on the gameplay or modes front until early next month, assuming NBA 2K26 will ship in September like the series has for the last several years.

Still, this is an important milestone for SGA and the Thunder. He is now the second 2K cover athlete from Oklahoma City, as Kevin Durant previously appeared on the covers of 2K13 and 2K15. If you want to get really technical, Chris Paul was on the cover of NBA 2K8, which would’ve been just after his New Orleans Hornets spent part of two years playing in Oklahoma City due to Hurricane Katrina, but his jersey says New Orleans.

It’s also worth noting that James Harden and Paul George were, at one time, high-profile Thunder stars, but were playing for the Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers, respectively, when they appeared on a 2K cover. Either way, Oklahoma City has been a popular team for 2K covers, which isn’t too surprising given how many MVPs the team has produced. And now SGA is just the latest in a long line of successes for GM Sam Presti and his team.

What is a bit surprising about NBA 2K26, is that we still haven’t seen Denver Nuggets star and three-time MVP Nikola Jokic on a cover. He’s widely regarded as the best player in the world over the last five years, even winning a title in 2023. For whatever reason, that hasn’t translated to much love from the 2K team for Joker. The team may have asked him to come in for a cover shoot during the off-season, and the big guy has spurned the developers in favor of his beloved horses.

Jokes aside, it’s great to see NBA 2K26 feature yet another great, young athlete. Last year, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum was on the cover, while Toronto Raptors legend Vince Carter featured on the Hall of Fame edition. This year’s Hall of Fame inductees include Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard. Melo did play for the Thunder for a minute, so we might see him pop up on one of the deluxe editions in the coming days.

For now, we’ll have to wait for more information from 2K. NBA 2K26 launches later this year on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms.