Best NBA 2K23 Cover Athlete Candidates - 5 Players That Will Be The Cover Athlete For NBA 2K23

It's that time of year to talk about the cover athlete for the new 2K game! NBA 2K23 cover athlete predictions are already making the rounds on social media, despite the fact that the game hasn't been launched. Fans are keeping an eye on the NBA stars’ performances this season and what it may indicate for who could be chosen as the coveted NBA 2K23 Cover Athlete. In this guide, we present best predicted NBA 2K23 cover athletes candidates, 5 players that need to be the cover athlete for NBA 2K23. 

Best NBA 2K23 Cover Athlete Candidates - Which Players Will Be Cover Athlete In NBA 2K23

The honourable mention is a really good player and that is Kawhi Leonard at 95 overall. There’s no chance that Kawhi to be the cover athlete in NBA 2K23, the reason is he's been injured all year, so you're never really gonna make a cover athlete out of someone who's not even playing like popularity-wise. He's a two-time finals mvp, probably the best two-way player in basketball, he's an amazing player, but when you don't play because you're always hurt, they're not going to make you a cover athlete. He definitely deserves a nod, he deserves to be mentioned, but it's just not going to happen with Kawhi. 

Check the list of 5 players that could be the cover athlete for NBA 2K23. 

Top 5. Jimmy Butler - 92 - SF

We don't think it's going to be jimmy butler, but ratings are wise, it should be. On the number one team in the east, the Miami Heat, Jimmy Butler is leading, he's one of the best two-way players in basketball, you can even argue he's the best small forward slash shooting guard in the NBA, he can't play shooting guard, so when he's shooting guard, he's one of the best ones in the NBA. He did go to NBA finals recently, he's a popular player, he's fun to watch, we don't think it'll actually be him because there's just so many better options, but ratings wise, he's at number 5. There’s not any real reason why he shouldn't be mentioned besides the fact that he's just not as popular as the other 4 people below.

Top 4. Ja Morant - 93 - PG

He has a really strong chance of being the cover athlete in NBA 2K23. People don't like to do repeat cover athletes, you can do repeat cover ethics, but people don't like to do them like James Harden has been a cover athlete before, but Ja Morant doesn't have to have that problem, he's never been a cover athlete before, so he makes this really strong case unlike the people above him who have been cover athletes before. So Ja Morant really has that going for him, he's one of the most entertaining players to watch in the NBA, everybody loves him, he has a really cool swagger about him. He's young absolutely especially to do a next-gen and a current gen version of the game which they have been doing forever. The next gen usually supposed to be a younger player like how they had Zion and Luca, we would absolutely see it being Ja for the newest game. He has the second highest chance of being the cover athlete aside of the first one, but he has a really strong chance of being cover athlete.

Morant has been absolutely electrifying in the NBA this season, putting on great performances and putting up big numbers, voted in as an All-Star starter, and currently leading the Memphis Grizzlies to a a top three record in the West.

Top 3. Joel Embiid - 96 - C

He’s an mvp candidate, one of the best players in the NBA, he's an amazing defender, he's great in the post, he's doing good in the playoffs even though he just got injured but like when he's healthy, he's been fantastic in the playoffs. What positive things that you don't already know about Joel Embiid is he's awesome, one little problem is that he was the NBA live cover athlete when NBA live was existing. So he doesn't have a contract with EA anymore which he did before, so that barrier is not in the way, 2K sees him as a NBA live player and don't want to put him on to the game. We could be wrong because Luka Doncic was also a NBA live player. Anyway, he’s another player who deserves cover athlete NBA 2K23.

Top 2. Stephen Curry - 96 - PG

This is the most deserving player of cover athlete 2K23. He was the cover athlete of NBA 2K16, the problem is that he shared it with James Harden and Anthony Davis, and Anthony Davis already got his personal cover in NBA to get 20. So they can still repeat it. Curry is a two-time mvp, a unanimous mvp, he is a three-time NBA champion, he's one of the greatest point guards of all time and he's one of the highest rated players in the NBA right now. And he's never been a cover athlete. In 2K16, he was technically the main cover athlete, so that's why we don't really think they'll do it. But it's a shame, one of the greatest players of all time who's having a really good season leading a team to maybe a championship again not have his own cover, KD's has two covers, LeBron has two covers, Curry has technically won but not really needs to change, so curry is the most deserving, but we don't think he'll get it because he's already been a cover athlete.

Top 1. Nikola Jokic - 96 - C

The NBA 2K23 Cover Athlete favorite has to be Nikola Jokic. He has too much of a strong case to not be the cover athlete. This is the most deserving of this list, he’s the second highest rated player in the NBA behind Giannis, he's going to be a back-to-back mvp this season. He can do everything, he's an amazing player and this checks and he's young, so this checks all the boxes of someone who's bound to be the cover athlete. 

For the cover athletes before, Luca was just an exciting player who had a really high rating, he was a 94 overall, so a young player that was exciting and one of the best in the NBA immediately goes up. Before that it was Damian Lillard, one of the best point guards in the NBA who had a great team immediately went up. Before that it was Anthony Davis won an NBA championship goes up, you look back and back and the players that are always cover athletes are always someone who had a great season and had an mvp caliber season. And then Nicole Jokic, back-to-back mvps, he doesn't have the most exciting game, he doesn't have a lot of swagger, but he has earned a cover athlete shot. So he's amazing two-time mvp, he got beat in the first round, but that doesn't really matter because first of all his team was terrible this year, so it's not fair. Second, they only got in the playoffs because of Jokic in the first place, he deserves it.