Story by
Aaditya Krishnamurthy
Thu, 23 July 2026 at 9:01 am UTC·3 min read
Victor Wembanyama will grace the cover of NBA 2K27, but the French sensation believes he should have gotten the honor earlier
Wembanyama becomes the latest player to be named the cover star of the NBA 2K franchise, joining a prestigious list that includes LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and more greats
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However, even with it only coming three seasons after he arrived in the NBA, Wembanyama believes the cover has come later than he had hoped
Victor Wembanyama wanted to be an NBA 2K cover star earlier in his career
Speaking to The Athletic in an exclusive interview, Victor Wembanyama addressed the honor of being NBA 2K27’s cover athlete
While Wemby was thrilled to get to this point, he wanted to reach this milestone earlier in his career, much like many of his other goals in the NBA
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“Just like every achievement in my career, I wish it happened sooner. It’s all happening very quick, but I am not satisfied, and I want it to happen quicker. It’s definitely a big milestone, something good. That’s done
“I know it means a lot culturally, too. It’s hard to realize for me that I’m taking more and more space, more real estate in the world of basketball, in what basketball means, in professional basketball.”
Wembanyama is by no means on a slow trajectory, even by his own lofty standards, especially when compared to the last five NBA 2K cover athletes and how long it took them to get there
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Victor Wembanyama the quickest NBA 2K cover star athlete since Zion Williamson
The last five mainline NBA 2K cover athletes featured:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – NBA 2K26 – Made his NBA debut in 2018
Jayson Tatum – NBA 2K25 – Made his NBA debut in 2017
Kobe Bryant – NBA 2K24 – Made his NBA debut in 1996
Devin Booker – NBA 2K23 – Made his NBA debut in 2015
Luka Doncic – NBA 2K22 – Made his NBA debut in 2018
Outside of Kobe Bryant, who was chosen as the cover star for 2K24 as a tribute to his iconic #24 jersey with the LA Lakers, the last five NBA cover stars have all been active players
Doncic took the same amount of time as Wembanyama to become an NBA 2K cover star, earning the honor just three years after his debut
Zion Williamson is the player with the shortest gap between his debut and being on the NBA 2K cover, as he debuted in 2019, and was named as NBA 2K21 cover star in 2020
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Of course, it should be noted that Williamson was the cover star exclusively for the next-gen version of the game (for the PS5 and Xbox Series X), while Damian Lillard was the cover star for the current-gen version (for the PS4 and Xbox One)
Regardless of how long Wembanyama felt it took to earn the accolade, there is no denying that he got there in very quick time, showing how rapid his ascent to NBA superstardom has been
<a href="https://www.hitc.com/victor-wembanyama-explains-why-he-took-50-million-pay-cut-to-help-san-antonio-spurs/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>Victor Wembanyama explains why he took $50 million pay cut to help San Antonio Spurs
