It was officially revealed earlier this month that Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo will serve as the cover star of the NBA 2K19 Standard Edition, which will become available in stores on September 11th.
Anyone that pre-orders the Standard Edition will also receive, on release, 5,000 VC, 10 Weekly MyTEAM packs, and a Sapphire Giannis MyTEAM card. 2K has also released a first look at his new render and it looks considerably more realistic than the version of him we saw in the game during its last iteration.
He's now the third straight Eastern Conference star to grace the cover, following Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving last year and former Indiana Pacers forward Paul George the year prior. Also, as previously reported, Los Angeles Lakers forword LeBron James will be featured on the cover of the 20th Anniversary Edition of the game, which comes at a premium price with four days of early access and a myriad of bonus content.
The 23-year-old Antetokounmpo was drafted 15th overall in 2013 and is now widely considered one of that draft's biggest steals. He's made the NBA All-Star team and All-NBA Second Team each of the past two seasons. He was also named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2017 and was the NBA's Most Improved Player the same season. Just last season, his splits were 26.9 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 4.8 apg, 1.5 spg, and 1.4 bpg.