Victor Wembanyama’s rise has now reached the kind of territory that comes with a 2K cover.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported, “San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama is the NBA 2K27 cover athlete, per sources.” The news lines up with June leaks and puts the Spurs star in a spot previously held by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic.
It’s another milestone in a year that already packed plenty of them for the 22-year-old. Wembanyama helped push San Antonio to a 62-20 record and a trip to the NBA Finals in his third season, then capped the run by taking Western Conference Finals MVP honors unanimously. In Game 7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, he delivered 22 points and seven rebounds to send the Spurs to their first Finals since 2014.
He had already made history earlier in the season as the first-ever unanimous Defensive Player of the Year, and he finished third in the regular-season MVP race. Even though San Antonio fell 4-1 to the New York Knicks in the Finals, the series was tighter than the final result suggested. Three of the four losses came down to the final minute, with New York barely hanging on each time.
That kind of two-way impact made Wembanyama an easy fit for the franchise’s biggest spotlight off the floor. The cover also places him in a long line of stars who have represented the series since 1999, starting with Allen Iverson as the lone cover athlete for the first five years before names like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James took over.
The selection comes shortly after Wembanyama agreed to a five-year, $252 million max rookie-scale extension with the Spurs. The deal does not reach the 30% supermax tier worth $303 million; instead, it’s a base 25% cap maximum and includes a player option in the fifth year.
NBA 2K27 is set to launch worldwide on Sep. 4, with early access beginning August 28.
In Other News...
Spurs Suddenly Look Built To Fully Unleash Victor Wembanyama
The Spurs kept their roster churn moving by bringing back David Jones-Garcia on a two-way contract, a move that adds another young piece to a group already built with flexibility in mind. After waiving Emanuel Miller to open the spot, San Antonio now has a full slate of 17 players under contract, with 14 on standard deals and three on two-way contracts.
For a team trying to give Victor Wembanyama the kind of support that can keep him fresh and maximize his impact, the structure matters as much as the names. San Antonio has spent the offseason assembling depth and versatility, the sort of roster construction that should help it stay competitive without leaning too heavily on any one player over the long haul. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama Already Left One Supposed Rival Far Behind
Victor Wembanyamas rise has been so fast that the leagues early attempt to frame him against another top young guard already feels dated. The Spurs center has gone from No. 1 pick to the face of a team that has surged back into the Finals conversation, and his new long-term deal only reinforces how firmly San Antonio has built around him.
Scoot Henderson, the player many expected to grow into Wembanyamas natural draft-night foil, has not matched that trajectory. His uneven play has left the comparison looking lopsided for now, with the gap between the two only widening as Wembanyama keeps stacking milestones and Henderson searches for a steadier footing. [Read more 🡒]
Stephon Castle Pick Looks Even Better After Stunning Top Pick Twist
Stephon Castle is already looking like a sturdy win for the Spurs at No. 4 in the 2024 draft, and the comparison game around that class has only gotten louder. What once looked like a straightforward evaluation of who landed where has turned into something more interesting for San Antonio, because Castle has quickly become a key part of the rotation and the kind of two-way piece teams spend years trying to find.
The broader draft picture has shifted again after Oklahoma City moved Lu Dort in a three-team deal with Atlanta and Dallas, another reminder that the top of the 2024 board has already taken some unexpected turns. For the Spurs, the encouraging part is that Castles value is no longer theoretical, and the early returns suggest San Antonio may have come away with one of the most reliable players in the class, even as the rest of the draft continues to sort itself out. [Read more 🡒]