Cover athletes are one of the coolest parts about the sports video games because it creates an iconic image for everyone to remember years down the road.
Cover athletes like 2004 Michael Vick, Eric Lindros’s NHL 99 cover and many others will go down as relics in gaming history and now another potential candidate has been added. Madden 18 came out hot this year with their GOAT edition of Madden and Tom Brady on the cover, it doesn't get more memorable than that. NBA 2K18 released their cover for the 2018 season and the athlete they chose is Kyrie Irving.
Irving is an interesting choice because although he has been a big star in the league for many years, last season’s championship-clinching three put him into a realm where players consider him one of the great players in today’s game – especially when talking about his handles.
Still, this season seems to have belonged to Russell Westbrook, so some fans have been angry – although for reasons that may not be fair. Westbrook has recently been on the cover of NBA Live video games, so he may not contractually be allowed. That didn’t stop people from sounding off on Twitter.
Westbrook will likely be fighting with LeBron to be the most memorable athlete of the year, and he doesn't have much control. If LeBron takes home the NBA Championship, there's not much Westbrook will be able to do.
We can only imagine how they’ll feel if he ends up without an MVP trophy at the end of the year.
