NBA 2K21 Cover Athlete Reveal: Damian Lillard is Surprise 2K Cover Star
The pre-launch hype continues as the first NBA 2K21 cover athlete arrived on Tuesday. NBA 2K unveiled the first cover for the upcoming game, or rather than cover star himself did. In a surprising moment, fans learned that Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard will appear on the front of the game when it launches later this year.
NBA 2K21 cover athlete Damian Lillard presents cover
A TikTok video arrived on Tuesday just around 10 a.m. Eastern Time. In the video, gamers see a first-person view as the cover star checks their gold watch before walking down a hall. A big hint is in the video music, which is Dame D.O.L.L.A.’s Sorry. The phone camera pans up to show that it’s none other than five-time NBA All-Star Damian Lillard.
The Portland Trail Blazers was revealed in the TikTok clip as the “2K21 Current-Gen Cover Athlete. We also see our first glimpse of the game’s cover itself.
Damian Lillard is known as Dame D.O.L.L.A. for hip-hop and Logo Lillard, Big Game Dame, or simply Dame for NBA fans. He’s known for hitting big shots from the court logo and destroying the hopes and dreams of OKC in the playoffs last season.
Lillard’s the 2012-13 NBA Rookie of the Year, a five-time All-Star, and four-time All-NBA member. He now gets the honor of NBA 2K21 cover athlete to add to that resume. The reveal arrives ahead of the Trail Blazers’ trip to resume the season in Orlando.
The cover star reveal came as a surprise to many who probably weren’t expecting Dame. Even we were way off when it came to cover predictions. Many fans guessed that heralded rookie Zion Williamson might land the cover. That said, the “current-gen” cover star is Lillard. So, the “next-gen” could be Zion based on that 2K21 PS5 trailer we saw.
More cover reveals, 2K21 details on the way
Based on the previous cover reveal dates that 2K gave on their TikTok video, there will be two more covers on the way. Whether that means one cover star on both editions or two different cover stars remains to be seen. However, plenty of fans believe that Kobe Bryant will be on the Legends Edition.
There’s also the possibility that an NBA 2K21 cover athlete is Vince Carter. The player fans grew to love as “Half Man, Half Amazing” just officially called it a career after 22 seasons dazzling fans with his skills. Having two other covers, one with Vince and the other with Kobe isn’t a bad trio of cover stars whatsoever.
Beyond that, the other details we’re awaiting are an actual NBA 2K21 game trailer showing off what’s to come, as well as the release dates and pre-order information. So far, we’ve seen just glimpses of things to come such as five soundtrack artists and the official PS5 announcement trailer.
Update: 2K revealed a pre-order date of July 2 in their cover video.
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