NBA 2K23 announced one NBA Legend will be gracing its cover this year. In the lead-up to pre-orders going live for all platforms, 2K Games has announced more legends will be on the game's cover this year, this time from the women's side of professional basketball. Also, confirmation that the NBA 2K City will return bonuses for the editions that Michael Jordan will be on the cover for have been leaked and include some enticing incentives for NBA fans.
2K Games has announced that Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird will share the cover on the NBA 2K23 WNBA Edition. These two WNBA and USA Women's Basketball legends have been linked to each other throughout their playing careers since playing together at the University of Connecticut and are joining once more. Sue Bird, who will be retiring at the end of the 2022 WNBA Season, called it an honor being on the NBA 2K23 cover, and sharing the cover with longtime friend and Olympic teammate Diana Taurasi as "really, really cool personally."
This is the second year that a WNBA Star has been on the cover of an NBA 2K game. Candace Parker was on the cover for NBA 2K22. Like the NBA 2K22 cover, the 2K23 WNBA Edition will be a GameStop exclusive release. 2K Games also announced that in celebration of these two WNBA Legends sharing the cover of NBA 2K23, the company will be making a $100,000 donation to Every Kid Sports as part of an initiative that will go towards the registration fees of families with girls that play on youth basketball teams.
Additional details to the Michael Jordan Edition and Championship Edition offerings have also been leaked by 2KIntel on Twitter listing the price and perks of each edition. The Michael Jordan Edition may be listed at $99.99 and come with dual-entitlement within the console family (PS4-PS5 or Xbox One - Xbox Series X|S), 100,000 Virtual Currency, and other MyPlayer boosts and cosmetics, and a list of Michael Jordan-related MyTeam rewards. The Championship Edition will be $149.99 and include a 12-Month NBA League Pass subscription, all the rewards of the Michael Jordan Edition, a Michael Jordan-themed Go Kart for the City confirmed to return in NBA 2K23, and a 10% XP Boost for MyTeam and MyCareer games.
The inclusion of a year subscription of NBA League Pass in the Championship Edition is an enticing addition for the hardcore NBA and NBA 2K fan and is the main attention grabber for this collector's bundle. The yearly subscription for NBA League Pass is $50 a year which makes up the difference between the two special editions with some add-ons in the Champion's edition to help it stand out.
NBA 2K23 will release on September 9 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S. Pre-orders begin on July 7.
