NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal has been confirmed as cover athlete for the "NBA 2K18" Legend Edition, 2K Sports announced Monday.
According to reports, the Legend Edition serves as the Big Aristotle's third cover for the "NBA 2K" franchise. He also graced the game's covers for "NBA 2K6" and "NBA 2K7." The cover features O'Neal during his eight-year stint with the Los Angeles Lakers. In his 19-year career, the 45-year-old cager also played for other teams such as Cleveland, Miami, Boston, Orlando, and Phoenix.
"I want to thank 'NBA 2K' for their continuous support of my basketball and broadcast career," said O'Neal (via Forbes). "I'm excited to be on the cover of the 'NBA 2K18' Legend Edition and I hope my fans have a blast playing it up big man style and re-creating my most legendary in-game moments!"
Like in 2017, there will be an Early Tip-off release this year. "NBA 2K18" will be available to customers who pre-order on Sept. 15. It remains to be seen whether 2K Sports will launch another version of The Prelude. Last year, "NBA 2K17" was promoted with a free companion game that was dropped a week before the full release.
The Legend Edition will be released in two versions: standard ($99.99) and gold ($149.99). The standard version offers 100,000 start-up virtual currency (VC) for players, along with 20 weekly MyTeam packs and a wide range of O'Neal-related add-ons. Meanwhile, the gold edition offers a 250,000 start-up VC, plus more O'Neal-related bonuses on top of the items from the standard version.
2K Sports has yet to reveal the cover athlete for the game's standard retail edition. During the last two years, the studio has featured a retired athlete for its Legend Edition, and a current player on the standard. The "NBA 2K17" featured Kobe Bryant on its Legend edition, with Paul George appearing on the standard's cover.
"NBA 2K18" will be available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Windows PC platforms.
