If Durant, Dirk, and Kareem NBA 2K22 cover leak is legit, then 2K nailed it this year

It’s NBA 2k cover season, when the storied video game franchise typically announces its cover athletes for the forthcoming September game.

Last year, on June 30, Damian Lillard was tabbed to be the cover athlete for the then-current gen systems, i.e., the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. July 1, Zion Williamson was announced as the next-gen cover athlete for the PS5 and Xbox Series X editions. The next day, the late Kobe Bryant was announced as the cover athlete for the legend editions of the game.

This year, there has yet to be a formal announcement, but a convincing leak has made its way online, indicating the three cover stars to be Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dirk Nowitzki, and Kevin Durant.

It would appear that Abdul-Jabbar would cover the legends edition, while Nowitzki and Durant would cover the PS5/Xbox Series X gen and PS4/Xbox One gen, respectively, in either direction, if 2K maintains the same format. Either way, all three guys are extremely deserving, so let’s go through each.

Abdul-Jabbar recently spoke to our Donovan Dooley about why he fights for equality and has done so for over 50 years, which is what he’s primarily known for these days to a younger generation. As his era becomes increasingly removed from our stream of consciousness, people forget, or even never learn about, how dominant Abdul-Jabbar was as a player. A generation of kids have learned about 1970s and 1980s basketball because of historical teams on video games, which 2K has routinely included, as does NBA Live in their now infrequent releases. Translation: While many people have learned who he is, a probably small percentage of these same kids have even gone to YouTube to watch his games or highlights. Abdul-Jabbar’s pro career spanned from 1969 to 1989, so you’re working with a limited supply as is because of what you could obtain, unlike today, where literally every game is repurposed digitally in some form.

It’s a unique opportunity to introduce Abdul-Jabbar to the gaming world in a seismic, meaningful way. As Lew Alcindor, after being arguably the greatest high school basketball player ever (see video below), he was probably the most outstanding college player ever at UCLA and played for all four years because … that’s just what you did in the 1960s. In college, they had this thing called the freshman team, which plenty of high schools still have, but the mobilization of prep-to-pro and subsequent one-and-dones were decades away, meaning, no way in hell Abdul-Jabbar would’ve gone either path because it wasn’t really a thought. (Imagine, though.)

On the freshman team, he averaged 33.1 points and 21.5 rebounds per contest, per his basketball reference page. Across three varsity seasons, he posted 26.4 points and 15.5 rebounds per contest, and since blocks weren’t a thing yet, who the hell knows how many he would’ve accumulated. He was a three-time consensus All-American and three-time National Champion, winning three NCAA Tournament MVPs for John Wooden’s Bruins. He was the No. 1 overall pick in 1969, responsible for the Milwaukee Bucks’ most recent title from 1971, won five more with the Los Angeles Lakers from 1980 to 1988. Today, he still has the most career points at 38,387, which LeBron James has the best shot at surpassing at 35,367, but with injuries in recent years, the relatively soon-to-be 37-year-old’s record chase is in question.

As for Abdul-Jabbar, he turned 74 years old in April; let’s give him his flowers while we still can.

Much of what you see in today’s modern NBA big man is because of this clumsy-looking 7-foot white dude who came from Germany and busted everyone’s ass in a golden age of power forwards.

Nowitzki put forth a Hall-of-Fame career against the peaks of Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Pau Gasol, Amar’e Stoudemire, Rasheed Wallace, Chris Bosh, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Chris Webber at the position, as well as the ascension of Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, and Draymond Green. He was an ahead-of-his-time offensive-minded big who would typically score from the mid-range and three-point line.

In his absolute 10-year peak from 2001 to 2011, Nowitzki averaged 24.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 48 / 39 / 89. In the playoffs during those years, he was good for 26.1 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game on 47 / 40 / 89 shooting, all while in an NBA that hadn’t yet seen the offensive boom that arrived when Nowitzki was in his later years. In today’s NBA? Forget it: 14 All-Stars, 12 All-NBAs, one MVP, and one memorable 2011 Championship.

Today, these dudes are Nowitzki’s sons, and that’s conveyed as a compliment.

Durant is arguably the best player in the world today, even post-Achilles tear, which he demonstrated during the 2020-21 season … when he was healthy, at least. Look no further than these playoffs, where he averaged 34.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.6 blocks, and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 51 / 40 / 87 in a legendary showing. He had a 49-point, 17-rebound, 10-assist triple-double in Game 6, and a 48-point record-breaking Game 7,.

The 2K cover argument against Durant is that he already did front the game on two occasions. On NBA 2K13, he, Derrick Rose, and Blake Griffin covered the game, and two editions later, Durant carried the sole responsibility for 2K15.

Still, he’s as good as anyone in the world today. While other younger candidates who’ve never received the honor like Trae Young, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell, and Nikola Jokić are worthy, they’ll all have to wait at least another year by the looks of this leak.