NBA 2K13 News Post

NBA 2K13 Cover Athletes Are Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose

08:41 AM - June 26, 2012 by Steve_OS

2K Sports Crowns Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin
and Derrick Rose as Cover Athletes for NBA® 2K13

Trio of young superstars represents the “New Dynasty” of NBA legends

New York, NY – June 26, 2012 – 2K Sports today announced that the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant, Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin and the Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose have been crowned the cover athletes for NBA® 2K13, the next installment of the top-selling and top-rated NBA video game simulation franchise*.

”Being crowned as one of the NBA 2K13 cover athletes is a huge honor and something I always dreamt about,” said Durant, who won his third straight scoring title and led the Thunder franchise to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1996. “It’s definitely humbling to grace the cover after the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird.”

“There’s so much young talent around the NBA, so it’s very exciting to be chosen for NBA 2K’s ‘New Dynasty’ alongside Kevin and Derrick,” added Griffin, who helped lead the Clippers to their first postseason since 2006. “The NBA 2K series has always been my first choice when I want to get a game in.”

“It’s a dream come true to be one of the cover athletes for NBA 2K13,” commented Rose, the 2010-11 NBA Most Valuable Player, who led the Bulls to a league-best 50-16 record this season. “I’ve worked closely with 2K Sports since NBA 2K10, and I’m honored to follow in the footsteps of Michael Jordan as the latest Chicago Bull to be featured on the cover.”

In their young but impressive careers, Rose, Durant and Griffin have each taken the NBA by storm. All three are past winners of the NBA Rookie of the Year award, and have also amassed eight All-Star berths, three scoring titles, and one Most Valuable Player award between them.

“There are many young superstars in today’s NBA, but we’ve selected three incredible athletes for the cover of NBA 2K13 that represent the NBA well,” concluded Jason Argent, vice president of marketing for 2K Sports. “It’s clear to us that Blake, Derrick and Kevin are the most deserving guys to inherit the NBA 2K cover from Jordan, Magic and Bird.”

Developed by Visual Concepts, a 2K Sports studio, NBA 2K13 is not yet rated by the ESRB and will be available on October 2, 2012 in North America and October 5, 2012 internationally. The Wii U version of the title will be available during the holiday season. Fans are encouraged to pre-order now at participating retailers in order to receive the downloadable NBA All-Star content package presented by Sprite on day one at no extra cost.

For more information on 2K Sports, visit www.2KSports.com.

For more information on NBA 2K13, visit http://www.facebook.com/NBA2K.

Game: NBA 2K13Reader Score: 8.5/10 - Vote Now
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Member Comments

# 41 AUChase @ 06/26/12 11:28 AM

They probably had these guys selected before the NBA finals were over. If not, its still not a bad selection. Lebron will be on a cover, eventually.

Does anyone even really pay attention to the cover, once they have had the game for a while ? I still play 2k11 and I don't catch myself ever paying attention to Jordan on the cover.

I also bought NCAA, despite it having Mark Ingram on the cover.. not a big deal.

Sent from my Desire HD

# 42 videobastard @ 06/26/12 11:31 AM

Im glad durant got another chance to be on a nba cover. The cover looks corny though.

# 43 dirtydizzle @ 06/26/12 11:38 AM

Attachment 45875

There You GO NINJAK2

# 44 Sasquash @ 06/26/12 11:39 AM

Covers is iight but it would of been nice to see Lebron on the cover considering he won his first ring this year

# 45 stillfeelme @ 06/26/12 11:51 AM

The cover is bland but I don't play covers I play the disc in the package.

# 46 almostbobsaget @ 06/26/12 11:51 AM

With all due respect to 2K, I don't like this cover. It's too bland and generic with the three of them on the cover.

It would be a much better cover if they weren't all going up for a dunk. It's all the same, repetitive action in the three of them. It would be a more cohesive and creative cover if the three were blended together where maybe Griffin was going up for the dunk, Rose was dishing a no look pass to the right, and Durant was talking a jumpshot (putting Griffin in the middle, Rose on the right dishing a no look, and Durant taking a shot on the left and away from the center.)

Blend those together with an effect from the bottom center and you would have a cover that has an element of action.

# 47 Angel_G @ 06/26/12 11:56 AM

It make sense to put those guys on the cover because they are all fan favorites. I would have been nice if they did 3 separate covers of the teams big 3. Rose, Deng, Noah - KD, Westbrook, Harden - LBJ, D-Wade, CB4

# 48 iLLosophy @ 06/26/12 12:01 PM

It's really sad when you have a large community of people that are doing a way better job of supporting a game for free (sliders, rosters, and in this case, game covers) than the people that are actually getting paid to do it.

# 49 poloelite @ 06/26/12 12:01 PM

You make a cover to sell games. The guys that are on the cover are all liked across the country/world. Kobe had to rehabilitate his image for years before 2k10. Was he deserving before that, of course. But that charge hurt his image. Tiger is the same case as well. Lebron's image is still in the crappers for the most part (his own doing). He won a ring, but a lot of people give credit to the refs and the others don't care that he won in regards to his image, they still dislike him. It's going to take years before I think people would be comfortable buying a product solely marketed by him outside of shoes. I know some people might comment that they would buy it, but trust me there are 15 to 20 people who wouldn't for everyone one of you that would.

2k did a decent job by picking good/great players with marketable images for this year's covers. No one is spewing hate for their product or the cover athletes which is exactly what you want. Lebron would over shadow their game and make it a debate over whether people will buy it or boycott the game based on the cover alone. I personally wanted to see an original Dream Team cover or a cover of Durant, Love and Kyrie, but I'm sure the market size in Minnesota and Cleveland made Chicago and L.A. better options.

# 50 23 @ 06/26/12 12:15 PM

I wish they could've done something different with that picture

Too many clashing colors, red on red, teal on red with an orange like floor, Rose's leg looks like he went to bionic man surgery

Like the choices, not sure of the pic

# 51 NFCastle @ 06/26/12 12:27 PM

That's a joke that lebron isn't on the cover. He just posted one of the eat seasons in recent history. MVP. Finals MVP on the championship team. Best player in the league and no love.

# 52 LD2k @ 06/26/12 12:30 PM

Glad we can finally unveil the cover to everyone!

We'll be talking about more details soon.

# 53 23 @ 06/26/12 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NFCastle


	That's a joke that lebron isn't on the cover. He just posted one of the eat seasons in recent history. MVP. Finals MVP on the championship team. Best player in the league and no love.

Yall need to quit

Maybe LeBron asked for too much

You know like Barkley and Reggie Miller did

Did you even stop to consider that? You have no idea what the guys stipulations are

# 54 Super Glock @ 06/26/12 12:42 PM

I really like the cover, good job 2K.

# 55 LD2k @ 06/26/12 12:51 PM

Also, you can pre-order (multiple retailer options + All-Star add-on content) from here - http://2kgam.es/BuyNBA2K13

Still working on International links.

# 56 rjmdeuce79 @ 06/26/12 12:54 PM

Are we getting all three on one cover or are we given the option we had last year in choosing our respective cover athlete?

# 57 spankdatazz22 @ 06/26/12 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iLLosophy


	It's really sad when you have a large community of people that are doing a way better job of supporting a game for free (sliders, rosters, and in this case, game covers) than the people that are actually getting paid to do it.

lol some of you are going to criticize every little thing regardless. The game has sold millions the past few years and it's not because of the cover, because every year there are people that have issues with the cover. I'm hoping there'll be a more dynamic looking cover myself but I don't think people are plopping down $60 primarily because there's a pretty picture on a box. And there isn't a sports game out there where it's respective community isn't doing a more thorough job with rosters, sliders, etc. Hell even mainstream games like Skyrim that are held in high regard have people modding it and being critical of the developer efforts. Not saying 2K can't do a better job, but imo it's not that serious. Seems it's casually dismissed that they have probably the most content rich sports title of this generation - no, they need to make sure they nail the cover too. Again, I'm not entirely disagreeing with you. But some perspective, please.

# 58 aloncho11 @ 06/26/12 01:23 PM

Nice to see KD.

# 59 jarod43 @ 06/26/12 01:25 PM

I like the cover, instead of one athlete they chose 3, way to be different but i just wanna know how come LeBron James still hasn't been on an NBA video game cover. I know now it may be difficult because LeBron haters probably wont buy it, but even in his cavalier days i think he deserved to be on a video game cover. It baffles me a player of great talent like his and still no one offers him to be on a video game cover. Maybe he doesn't want to be on the cover of a basketball game but i doubt that.

# 60 aloncho11 @ 06/26/12 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LD2k


	We'll be talking about more details soon.

An announcement about an announcement?

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NBA 2K13 Cover Athletes Are Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose