Kobe Bryant is named the cover athlete for NBA 2K24 for the fourth time

For the fourth time, the late NBA Hall-of-Famer Kobe Bryant will be honored on the cover of NBA 2K24.

The top-selling NBA video game tweeted out the announcement revealing two different versions of the game with separate covers.

Both the ‘Kobe Bryant edition’ and the ‘Black Mamba edition’ will be on sale beginning September 8.

‘As we celebrate 25 years of NBA 2K with Kobe Bryant, we commemorate his legacy and the generational impact he has had on the game of basketball,’ Greg Thomas, president at Visual Concepts, the game’s developer, said in a statement. 

‘While we mark the history of the franchise, NBA 2K24 also looks ahead to the future to bring an innovative leap in technology and the introduction of community-requested features like crossplay.’

NBA 2K24 will be the fourth time Bryant has graced the cover, this time with two editions

Bryant and his daughter Gigi were one of nine people killed in a January 2020 helicopter crash

It’s the fourth time that Bryant has appeared on the cover of the top-selling sports game franchise.

That includes a special ‘Mamba Forever’ edition of 2K21, which was released in the aftermath of the tragic helicopter crash that claimed the lives of Kobe, his daughter Gianna, and seven others.

Byrant was a five-time NBA title winner with the Los Angeles Lakers, having played there 20 seasons prior to retiring in 2016.

He was a two-time NBA Finals MVP, made 18 All-Star appearances, won an MVP award, and has the fourth most points in league history.

Bryant was posthumously inducted into the Basketball Hall-of-Fame in 2020.