If you’re a basketball fan, you can probably list of an enormous number of influential players over the years–Chamberlain, Drexler, Barkley, the list goes on. However, there are three players that even non-NBA fanatics can recognize–Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson. What is the connection between the three, aside from being some of the most popular players of the 80s and early 90s? 2K Sports has just announced that they are release three separate covers this year featuring these players as cover athletes.
“Bringing Michael Jordan to the virtual hardwood last year was a huge success for NBA 2K11; however, we didn’t want to stop there,” said Jason Argent, vice president of marketing for 2K Sports. “We’re bringing ‘His Airness’ back to the NBA 2K franchise as part of a multi-year extended partnership, along with two other legendary icons – Larry Bird and Magic Johnson – for a special cover athlete collection representing the NBA’s greatest heroes.”
The artwork for the cover itself is changing too, as 2K Sports says this one-time departure will involve a more stylized cover and spotlight each player on their respective team. To help assist with the new design, 2K hired Adam Larson of Adam&Co. Larson has created dynamic artwork for galleries, magazines and various product advertising campaigns. His work has received numerous honors, including the Kelly Awards, Cannes Lions, Clio Awards, and two primetime Emmy nominations. The screenshots of the covers can be found below:
NBA 2K12 is set to release October 4, 2011 for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Playstation 2, Wii, PSP, and PC.
