Shai Gilgeous-Alexander named NBA 2K26 cover star: Everything you need to know

The 2K25 cover featured NBA legend Vince Carter, Las Vegas Aces two-time champion A’ja Wilson, and Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum, honoring the past and present.

The reigning NBA MVP, Finals MVP, and champion, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from the Oklahoma City Thunder, is the new cover star for NBA 2K26.

NBA insider Shams Charania announced this and it has already been confirmed by 2K. This is a huge and historic moment for the Thunders and for the player. Let’s find out more details in this article.

The generational run continues ⚡️Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is your #NBA2K26 Standard Edition Cover Athlete!Pre-order NBA 2K26 starting tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/1pQTtWOUh2

— NBA 2K (@NBA2K) July 8, 2025

Why Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?

This wasn’t a shocker or surprising that Shai is the new cover star of NBA 2K26. The Oklahoma City Thunder had one of the best seasons and even won the NBA Championship.

Shai emerged as one of the best players this season alongside Nikola Jokić and Anthony Edwards. His performance and dominance in the whole season and playoffs have made him a good choice for the cover.

I am pretty sure that Jokic’s fans are pretty upset, as I have seen some posts on X and Reddit forums.

However, you can’t deny that Shai and Oklahoma were better this season and that made him the perfect choice for the cover star.

Also Read: NBA 2K: List of all cover stars

NBA 2K26 release details

According to Dealabs Magazine, NBA 2K26 will officially release on September 5, 2025. The game is still developed by Visual Concepts.

This time, the game will not be available on Xbox One and PS4. It will instead focus on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and a Nintendo Switch 2 version.

Pulling up from deep—even on the go. NBA 2K26 drops on #NintendoSwitch2 this fall! pic.twitter.com/slmwwmPDqW

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 8, 2025

Previously, NBA 2K25 was not properly optimized for Nintendo Switch; however, NBA 2K26 will be fully optimized this time and will land on the same day as PS5 and Xbox Series X/S releases.

It was also reported that the Switch 2 version will be priced at $69.99, which is $10 more than the previous Switch version.

For now, 2K has not officially confirmed the release date, but with the announcement of Shai as the new cover star, we can expect the announcement any time soon.

Final thoughts

This is good news for Basketball fans and gamers, as with the announcement of the cover star, we can expect the release date announcement pretty soon as well.

Shai is going to be the cover star of the standard version and it would be interesting to see who else 2K is going to choose for the other editions. The pre-orders will go live tomorrow for the game.

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