Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal recently received his statue among the greats outside of Staples Center, which featured him hanging from the rim after an emphatic dunk.
2K Sports is currently in the midst of designing their new video game, NBA 2K18, and it appears they have decided who to put on the cover of their Legend Edition.
O’Neal is the legend they chose to be on the cover, and the image that will be featured is the same one that the Lakers turned into bronze outside of the Staples Center, via NBA 2K:
We’re excited to announce @Shaq as our Legend Edition & Legend Edition Gold cover athlete for #NBA2K18! https://t.co/LAk0Oo980r pic.twitter.com/tVBseePG6Q
— NBA 2K 2K17 (@NBA2K) May 8, 2017
This will be the third consecutive year that 2K sports will feature a retired athlete on its Legend Edition, with a current player on the standard, as last year also featured a Lakers legend, Kobe Bryant, on the Legend Edition with Indiana Pacers star Paul George on the standard edition.
The NBA 2K18 Legend Gold Edition will be priced $149.99 and will include perks like 250,000 start-up VC and additional O’Neal-related items. The standard Legend Edition will go for $99.99 and includes 100,000 start-up VC, 20 weekly MyTeam packs in addition to O’Neal-related bonuses.
The NBA and Take-Two Interactive Software are also in the process of creating an NBA 2K eSports league, which will feature NBA 2K teams owned by one of the real-life NBA franchises, and could happen as soon as this year.