Fresh off his first NBA championship, Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics may be adding another accomplishment to his resum̩ РNBA 2K25 Cover Athlete. The upcoming game is widely expected to be released in early September 2024, with the official cover athlete announcement expected to arrive during the NBA 2K25 Summer League tournament.
NBA 2K25 Cover Athlete Rumors
The rumors of Jayson Tatum being the NBA 2K25 Cover Athlete started with a tweet by the official NBA 2K Account (below). The tweet features a highlight reel of Jayson Tatum, followed by a new 2K graphic. This coincided with the NBA 2K account changing their social media banner and profile picture. The tweet was also retweeted by Jayson Tatum.
— Jayson Tatum (@jaytatum0) June 19, 2024
By connecting all the dots, there is good reason to believe that this was a well-placed marketing move by 2K that suggests Tatum as your NBA 2K25 Cover Athlete. At this point, there is no official announcement and it is still speculation, but 2K has definitely hinted towards that outcome.
In a poll we ran in May 2024, Tatum received only 16.1% of the vote for the predicted cover athlete for NBA 2K25. But as news broke of Tatum potentially being the cover athlete, currently a majority agrees he was the right choice.
Should Jayson Tatum be #NBA2K25 Cover Athlete?
— NBA 2KW (@TheNBA2KW) June 18, 2024
Additionally, Take Two Interactive (the parent company of NBA 2K) has filed a trademark for the motto “Ball Over Everything,” which is the phrase used in the Tatum highlight video.
Interesting, 2K’s parent company Take-Two Interactive just filed a trademark for the phrase “Ball Over Everything” that is now pending, which strongly hints at Jayson Tatum being the cover athlete and the saying being the official phrase of NBA 2K25. https://t.co/OMRAi75qxY pic.twitter.com/WHQSj5NNEQ
— Power DF (@PowerGotNow) June 20, 2024
The 2K Community has also made strong suggestions on social media to feature the late Jerry West on the cover of the NBA 2K25 Legend Edition, as a way to honor the Laker and basketball legend.
Jayson Tatum Highlights
Jayson Tatum has emerged as one of the top players in the league, leading the Boston Celtics to a 64-18 record this season. This year, Tatum and his squad finally got over the hump to win their first championship, 4 games to 1 over the Dallas Mavericks.
- Five-time NBA All-Star (2020-2024)
- Two-time All-NBA First Team (2022, 2023)
- All-NBA Third Team (2020)
- All-Rookie First Team (2018)
- 2022 Eastern Conference Finals MVP
- Gold Medal Winner, Tokyo Olympics (2020)
- 2023 All-Star Game MVP
- 2024 NBA Champion
