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The Friday Five: 5 Cover Players That Made the Finals The Same Year

Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five cover players that made the NBA Finals in the same season their game came out.

The 2022 NBA Finals are upon us! Fittingly, in this 75th Anniversary season, the two teams squaring off are the Golden State Warriors, and the Boston Celtics. Not only are they two of the original three BAA/NBA teams – the New York Knicks being the third – but the Warriors and Celtics have plenty of championship history between them. The Warriors were the inaugural BAA champions, and have gone on to win another five titles since. Boston, meanwhile, were long-time record holders for total NBA championships, and are currently tied with the Los Angeles Lakers with 17.

While there’s plenty of real life history involved with this year’s Finals matchup, it is lacking a tie-in with the virtual hardwood, namely involving cover players. There was only one game on the market for the 2022 season – NBA 2K22 – and while it boasted a few different covers, none of them featured a player that will be competing in this year’s championship series. Popularity and marketability are obviously the deciding factors when EA Sports and Visual Concepts choose their cover players, rather than likelihood of winning or at least competing for a title that year. Of course, it’s quite fortuitous when they do! Here are five cover players that made it as far as the Finals.

1. Allen Iverson (NBA 2K1)

Allen Iverson in NBA 2K1

In the early days of the series, Allen Iverson was Mr. NBA 2K. On top of 2K being console-exclusive at the time (and originally exclusive to the Sega Dreamcast to boot), it was something that set its brand apart from NBA Live. Whereas NBA Live changed cover players every year, the first five NBA 2K titles all featured Iverson. There’s nothing wrong with EA’s approach, but it did help 2K to establish a brand identity. They made a great choice in AI too, as The Answer was a very popular player and mainstay of the All-Star game. 2K didn’t have to wait very long before Iverson achieved some noteworthy success with the Philadelphia 76ers as well.

AI carried the 76ers to a Finals appearance in 2001, the same season that he graced the cover of NBA 2K for the second time. NBA Live 2001 sold more copies, and Kevin Garnett was seen as the better all-around talent, but it was NBA 2K1’s cover player that was battling Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant in the NBA Finals. While the 76ers were beaten in five games, they also handed that dominant Lakers team their only loss of the 2001 Playoffs, preventing them from achieving the first clean sweep in league history. It was the peak of the 76ers’ success under Allen Iverson, but the NBA 2K series would go on to become the premier brand in sim basketball gaming.

2. Jason Kidd (NBA Live 2003)

NBA Live 2003 Cover Player Jason Kidd

Although he doesn’t have any MVP trophies to show for it, Jason Kidd had a huge impact on the league in early 2000s. When the New Jersey Nets acquired him in exchange for Stephon Marbury in 2001, they went from the lottery to the Finals in the space of a year. Like Iverson and the 76ers a season earlier, they were outmatched by Shaq, Kobe, and the Lakers. It was an admirable turnaround though, thanks in no small part to Kidd’s playmaking acumen. As such, his stock and popularity soared. The disappointing disintegration of The Three Js in Dallas, and wry comments calling him “Ason” (“Because the Kidd has no J”), were quickly forgotten and overshadowed.

It was therefore hardly a shocking or disappointing reveal when Kidd was announced as the cover player for NBA Live 2003. Some gamers had made incorrect guesses based on a teaser image, but even so, the announcement wasn’t controversial. Kidd’s selection panned out quite well for NBA Live 2003 as his Nets made a return trip to the NBA Finals, where they faced the Spurs and NBA Live 2000 cover player Tim Duncan. They fared much better in their second appearance, even splitting the first four games to tie the series at two apiece. San Antonio prevailed in this clash of two former ABA teams, but Kidd nevertheless looked like a great choice of cover player.

3. Ben Wallace (ESPN NBA 2K5)

Ben Wallace in ESPN NBA 2K5

When 2K finally decided to replace Allen Iverson as the face of its game, they went in a very different direction. By signing Ben Wallace, they went from a flashy player known for scoring to a “blue-collar” player known for defense and hustle. It was a gamble in some respects, but it did make sense. Wallace had just won a championship as a member of the Detroit Pistons, who had completed a gentleman’s sweep of a star-studded Lakers team. Conversely, AI had missed almost half of the 2004 season, and the 76ers in turn missed the Playoffs. The Pistons appeared to be in position to remain a contender in the East, so there was peak hype for Wallace to appear on a cover.

Detroit was indeed the team to beat in the East in 2005, as they made the Finals for the second year in a row. They were defending their championship against the San Antonio Spurs, back in the Finals after winning in 2003. Now, the 2005 Finals have an unfortunate reputation as being boring, and while I don’t entirely disagree, I believe it’s for different reasons than most suggest. The first four games were kind of boring, with the home team winning by double-digits each time. Once we got to the pivotal Game 5 that went into overtime, and the series went to seven, it became much more interesting! The Pistons lost, but ESPN NBA 2K5’s cover player was still a Finalist.

4. LeBron James (NBA 2K14)

LeBron James Dunks in NBA 2K14

Needless to say, LeBron James is a far less surprising cover player compared to Ben Wallace! While I’m not the biggest fan of LeBron and have my own thoughts on the eternal GOAT debate, he is an all-time great to say the least, and was the right pick for NBA 2K14’s cover. He was fresh off of winning back-to- back titles with the Heat in his third consecutive Finals appearance, and one of the league’s biggest stars. Even with his detractors, his star power drew even more attention to NBA 2K14, which was set to make a huge impact as a launch title on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. On top of that, there was a good chance he’d be back in the Finals, possibly winning it all again.

As it turned out, a determined Spurs team gained revenge for their heart-breaking loss in seven games the previous year. It was another gentleman’s sweep and a dominating victory for San Antonio, with Patty Mills turning in one of my favourite NBA Finals performances not involving a Chicago Bull. It certainly didn’t hurt the perception of NBA 2K14 though, nor did it make LeBron James a poor choice of cover player in hindsight. NBA 2K14 didn’t need LeBron’s marketability to assert its dominance over NBA Live 14, but it was still great for their brand that of the two cover players that season, NBA 2K’s was the one who made his fourth consecutive Finals appearance.

5. Stephen Curry (NBA 2K16)

Cover Players in the NBA Finals: Stephen Curry (NBA 2K16)

Back in the Finals this year, Stephen Curry is presently a three-time champion, and a former NBA 2K cover player. However, those accomplishments have never coincided to date, and that won’t change this year, as Curry hasn’t been a cover player since he was one of the three main faces of NBA 2K16. He’d ascended to superstar status the year before, winning his first championship and Most Valuable Player award. With that in mind, he could’ve easily been a solo cover player. In fact, you could argue that he was the de facto main cover player, even though James Harden and Anthony Davis shared top billing, with Michael Jordan appearing on the cover of the Special Edition.

Curry unquestionably stood out as he set three-point records and led the league in both scoring and steals, unanimously winning his second straight MVP. In making it back to the Finals, Curry further outperformed his fellow NBA 2K16 cover players, defeating Harden and the Rockets in the first round, while Davis and the Pelicans failed to make the Playoffs. The Warriors broke the Chicago Bulls’ record by going 73-9 in the regular season, but were on the wrong side of history when LeBron James and the Cavs overcame a 3-1 deficit to win the championship. NBA video games have generally avoided their own “Madden Curse“, but NBA 2K16 may be an exception!

Do you remember the hype surrounding cover players making it to the NBA Finals? Does it help the games in question to stick out in your mind? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.

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