FAN SIDED - Was there ever any doubt? After an incredible season in which he led the Oklahoma City Thunder to their first title since they were the Seattle Supersonics, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the cover athlete for NBA 2K26.

People started calling it the “Summer of SGA” and it undoubtedly was. He signed a 4-year, $285 million extension that will make him the highest-paid player in the league. His team won its first World Championship in its Oklahoma City era, and now, NBA 2K has acknowledged his greatness. SGA 32.7 points, 6.4 assists, and five rebounds per game, piloting the Thunder to a 68-14 record and an NBA Finals win over the Indiana Pacers.

He was only the 4th player in NBA history to win the scoring title, Finals MVP, Regular Season MVP, and a World Championship all in the same season. The previous three stars to do that were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’ Neal, and Michael Jordan. Talk about rarefied air.

Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton has earned some gaming cred as well, joining WWE 2K25 in its latest DLC, the Dunk and Destruction Pack. That’s totally better than an NBA championship, right? The good news is that both these teams are young and should have a chance to play for a lot more championships down the road.

SGA finished the season with a 98 overall rating. I suspect the “Summer of SGA” and being the cover athlete will be more than enough to earn him that extra one point of overall rating.

The game is now available for pre-order. 2K Games also announced that NBA 2K26 will be released on Sep. 5, 2025. The NBA 2K26 Standard Edition will be available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, while the other editions will be exclusive to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. Both the Superstar and Leave No Doubt Edition come with advanced access, allowing owners to dive in as early as Aug. 29.

Gilgeous-Alexander called being on the cover “iconic”, but seemed to be more thrilled about getting to work with developer Visual Concepts and 2K “to set the tone in-game from curating the tunnel fits to the playlist that players will ball to.”

NBA 2K26 will feature improvements to its immersive ProPLAY features on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S as well as an overhauled MyCAREER mode. MyPLAYER, MyTEAM, and The City return alongside MyNBA, the series’ franchise mode.