NBA 2K10 Cover Athlete Reveal Thursday

[kcxiv]

2K Sports to Reveal Cover Athlete for NBA® 2K10
during Pre-Game Show for Game One of the NBA Finals on June 4

June 3, 2009 – Basketball fans will get a treat tomorrow as 2K Sports reveals the cover athlete for the highly anticipated basketball video game, NBA 2K10. An exclusive 30 second TV spot will air during the NBA Countdown pre-game show for Game One of the 2009 NBA Finals, June 4 at 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC. NBA 2K10 is the upcoming 10th anniversary edition of the hugely popular NBA 2K franchise, the #1 selling basketball video game* and #1 rated NBA simulation for eight years in a row**.

Developed by Visual Concepts, NBA 2K10 is not yet rated by the ESRB and will be available this fall. For more information, please visit http://www.2ksports.com/games/nba2k10.

The 2009 NBA Finals are currently scheduled to tip off on June 4 at 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC.

[slimshady221]

Hopefully LeBron? Wouldnt be surprised if they get D. Howard though.. even though no one wants him on the cover besides Magic fans.

[Jamin23]

Both stars, but let's see if the star shines bright enough...
That sounds like Lebron and Kobe.

[Chessboxer1]

Doug Moe or Mike D'Antoni

[VDusen04]

Had he not been rumored to be leaving the NBA, I presume it would have been Walter Herrmann

[JAY__JAY_]

can they afford to pay lebron?

[Shinyhubcaps]

I usually try to predict the cover athlete, but this year it passed me by... until now.

So I'll try to predict it now. Let's start with the 30 NBA teams and remove those without superstars or All-Stars from the past two or three years.

76ers
Celtics
Knicks
Nets
Raptors
Bucks
Bulls
Cavaliers
Pacers
Pistons
Bobcats
Hawks
Heat
Magic
Wizards

Grizzlies
Hornets
Mavericks
Rockets
Spurs
Jazz
Nuggets
Thunder
Timberwolves
Trail Blazers
Clippers
Kings
Lakers
Suns
Warriors

Now let's take a look at the remaining 21 teams and remove those whose marketable players have recently been on video game covers (including 2K but excluding NBA 09's NBA.com composite cover).

76ers
Celtics
Nets
Raptors
Bulls
Cavaliers
Pistons
Hawks
Heat
Magic
Wizards
Hornets
Mavericks
Rockets
Spurs
Jazz
Nuggets
Trail Blazers
Clippers
Lakers
Suns

Out of the remaining 17, I will eliminate those in the bottom half of the league in market size.

76ers
Nets
Raptors
Bulls
Cavaliers
Pistons
Hawks
Heat
Magic
Mavericks
Rockets
Spurs
Jazz
Nuggets
Trail Blazers
Clippers
Suns

Of the remaining 9, I will highlight those with up-and-coming stars rather than older, more experienced ones (I know about Shaquille O'Neal and Kevin Garnett on past covers, but this is the year for a rising star or potential breakthrough star, in my estimation).

76ers
Nets
Raptors
Bulls
Pistons
Hawks
Mavericks
Rockets
Clippers

Now I will highlight playoff teams from this year.

76ers
Raptors
Bulls
Hawks

And finally, I will mention those teams with players from the Team 2K series.

76ers (Iguodala)
Bulls (Rose)
Hawks

So here are my predictions:
1. Derrick Rose (he passes all of my arbitrary criteria)
2. Dwight Howard (forget market size and the fact that he was on NBA Ballers, if they announce it at the NBA Finals, it must be big)
3. Kobe Bryant (eliminated because he was on the cover of NBA 07, but again, it's at the NBA Finals, and like NBA 2K9 and Madden NFL 10, they like champions or potential champions)

[Rubynator33]

I highly doubt its Dwight or Kobe since they have been covers for other video games already. I feel that its Lebron as of today it suprises me that he still hasn't been on a cover of a video game. And with his strong play during the season its a no brainer.

[nightcreeper]

rose

[B-Wills]

I'm almost sure that it's gonna be Dwight Howard.