There’s a very small chance, if you’re a sports gamer primarily on the gaming side, you don’t know who Shams Charania is. It’s way more likely you do, but let’s pretend. Charania is the lead NBA Insider/Writer/Analyst for The Athletic. He is in a forever war with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski to break sports news stories. Yesterday, tacked on to a tweet about a potential supermax contract with the Phoenix Suns, he also may have revealed that Devin Booker will be the cover athlete for NBA 2K23.
The Phoenix Suns and All-NBA guard Devin Booker are finalizing a four-year, $214 million supermax contract extension that he’s set to sign as soon as next week, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
Booker will also be the cover athlete for NBA 2K23, per sources.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 30, 2022
NBA 2K23 Cover Star Casually Leaked
NBA’s Free Agency started on Thursday. As a result, Charania has been extra busy reporting on every rumor, potential trade, and major resign. The latter is technically what’s being reported on here; Suns SG Devin Booker is on the market, and its huge news for Phoenix fans if he stays in town. Almost casually, as an afterthought, Charania added that, hey, also Booker will be on the cover of NBA 2K23. The way it was presented is almost comically anti-climactic. When it leaked that Dirk Nowitzki would be one of the cover athletes for NBA 2K22, rumors hit Reddit first, followed by an official confirmation from Jason Schreier. Shams just… tweeted it out. Like a fun fact at a stop on a bus tour.
Who Will Join Him?
There’s a good chance this rumor is true, based on Charania’s credentials. There’s also a good chance Booker won’t be NBA 2K23’s only cover athlete. Last year, 2K had five cover athletes across three different editions. It’s not clear how many editions of 2K23 we’ll see, nor who might join Booker on the cover. Here’s a fun fact we do know: if this report is true, Booker will be the first Suns player to grace the cover of an NBA 2K game. At least, the first Suns player in a Suns jersey; Shaquille O’Neal and Chris Paul were consecutive cover athletes in 2006 and 2007, years before either were in Phoenix.
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