The wait is over! NBA 2K22 has finally announced the cover athlete!
Don't look anywhere else, we've got all the details for you here about the NBA 2K22 cover athlete announcement, teaser trailer, release date, and more!
Latest News - NBA 2K22 cover officially revealed, teaser trailer released
NBA 2K22 will be released on September 10 and has finally given us an official look at this year's cover for the Standard Edition, Cross-Gen Digital Deluxe, and 75th Anniversary Edition!
Luka Doncic is the primary cover athlete, with legends Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the 75th Anniversary Edition.
WNBA Champion Candace Parker was also selected as the first female cover athlete in series history, as she's featured on a GameStop exclusive version of the Standard Edition only available in North America.
The teaser trailer shown above was also released, which doesn't have gameplay but is our first glimpse at what might be coming with NBA 2K22.
NBA 2K22 Cover leaked ahead of reveal
The primary source of leaks for NBA 2K22 has been the 2KIntel account on Twitter, and that's continued with yet another leak!
These covers are unconfirmed and unofficial, but we should find out more information on the Cover Athletes today.
It's fair to say that the response to these covers has been mixed, with some fans labelling the Luka Doncic cover as poorly designed and lazy, but, we can't wait for the official reveal today!
NBA 2K22 Cover Reveal Countdown
Speculation about the NBA 2K22 cover went into overdrive at the beginning of this month when @2KIntel reportedly leaked a view of the NBA 2K22 cover in a tweet that included the below image.
This potential leak was further bolstered when the NBA released a logo for their 75th Anniversary season, and it's the exact same logo design shown in this leaked image.
You can also vaguely make out "NBA 75th Anniversary Edition" in the leaked image, so it seems very likely this is the name they'll go with for a special edition of NBA 2K22.
This image also touts a potential release date of September 10, 2021, but we haven't yet seen further information confirming that.
Just yesterday, @2KIntel posted again and stated "Cover Reveal officially confirmed July 14th #NBA2K22," and the evidence for that reveal date is mounting.
Australian NBA 2K MyTEAM YouTuber Killzamoi posted the following video yesterday morning as well:
As we've started to see more similar posts from other content creators, it's looking increasingly likely that a major cover reveal is coming for NBA 2K22 on July 14, 2021.
Since that first post by Killzamoi, we've seen similar posts by influencers and streamers Huncho, Jay Canada, Donovan "DmanUnt2014," StaxMontana, German journalist Andre Voigt, and even the following post by current Chicago Bulls player Daniel Theis.
All of them have featured "July 14" either at the end of the video or in the text of the post itself, and while we don't have a reveal time, it looks all but confirmed that the NBA 2K22 cover will be announced on that day.
It's also worth noting that the design scheme for the clips at the ends of these videos looks in line with the design of the leaked cover image, further reinforcing its credibility.
Who will be the NBA 2K22 cover athlete?
As far as who will actually be the cover athletes chosen for NBA 2K22, the most concrete evidence we have for that is the original leak by @2KIntel.
The leaked image shows Dirk Nowitzki, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Kevin Durant together, so all three of them look to solidly be in the running.
The same account later speculated that Durant could be on the Standard Edition for Current Gen, Nowitzki could be on the Standard Edition for Next Gen, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could be on the Legend Edition but then followed up by saying they could all be together on the same cover.
They also later decoded a series of hints that seem to further solidify these three players as part of the NBA 2K22 cover, and spotted these images in one of the promo videos.
While @2KIntel focused on Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki as partially shown in these screenshots, others have speculated the visible Dallas Mavericks jersey is newer and could point to Luka Doncic.
If all four ring true, it could mean we're in store for more than one amazing cover this year with NBA 2K22, but the reality is we can't know for sure just yet.
However, we should finally find something out when the NBA 2K22 reveal lands sometime on July 14, 2021.