NBA 2K24: 10 Things We Already Know
Celebrating 25 years of NBA 2K and one of the greatest to ever play the game...
NBA 2K23 was a good-to-great title let down by niggling issues.
Not everyone was eager to hop into MyTEAM, the basketball group's microtransaction-based card-collecting mode, and that's fine. Every sports video game title is going to have such a mode, though, and many will want to prove themselves as the most elite NBA 2K gamer.
An array of microtransaction-free modes were also on offer, giving everyone a slice of the cake to do what they wanted. Fancy playing the greatest moments of Michael Jordan's esteemed career? Hop into the Jordan Challenge. Want to see what it takes to thrive in some of the game's most elite eras? You can, via MyNBA. Have what it takes to make it to the big-time? Start a new chapter in MyCAREER.
You're rarely without something to do - so how do 2K top it in 2023?
Formally declared by NBA 2K on Thursday, July 6th, NBA 2K24 - the 25th NBA 2K video game - will pay tribute to such a feat, recognising 25 years of NBA 2K success in what could be a generational title for fans of the sport. Outright revolutionary, this game will not be, but what it does have is diversity, and that starts with the cover stars.
10. The Cover Star
It's Kobe Bryant.
It had to be Kobe Bryant.
The famed and feared number 24 shooting guard of the Los Angeles Lakers, Bryant is an all-timer, with five NBA Championships and eighteen appearances as an NBA All-Star to his name, and averaged 35.4PPG at the height of his success. His positioning as this year's cover star was a no-brainer, though 2K and Visual Concepts have gone above and beyond to celebrate the late icon of the court in what will be his fourth time on an NBA 2K video game cover.
Kobe appears on both the standard edition of the game and a special Black Mamba edition. Both titles opt for a yellow and purple-inspired background - the Lakers colours - with the standard edition displaying a young Kobe going for a dunk and the Black Mamba special seeing a latter-year Bryant breaking a sweat. These are available for £69.99 (£59.99 if purchasing the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One copy) and £89.99, respectively, and will come with respective goodies to tide you over in MyCAREER and MyTEAM.
Sabrina Ionescu, the number 20 point guard of the New York Liberty, will also don the cover for NBA 2K's third WNMBA edition, which retails for the same price as the standard edition.