NBA 2K20, this year’s iteration of 2K Sports’ venerated simulation basketball franchise, will be released Sept. 6 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One, the publisher announced Monday. It will also be a launch title for Google Stadia in November.
The game will be available in a standard edition for $59.99, a Digital Deluxe Edition for $79.99, and in a Legend Edition for $99.99. In a departure from what has become the usual practice, the Sept. 6 release date applies for all three packages, a 2K Sports representative confirmed to Polygon. In other words, people who pre-order the more expensive editions won’t get to start playing the game a few days ahead of standard edition buyers.
The first two packages will feature Anthony Davis, who is about to be traded from the New Orleans Pelicans to the Los Angeles Lakers. (As you can see below, the cover artwork was not shot with Davis in a Lakers uniform. The teams agreed to the trade in mid-June, but it’s technically not final yet — it can’t officially take place until July 6 at the earliest — and the Los Angeles Times reports that Davis will indeed be sporting a Lakers jersey on the box when the game launches this fall.)
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This won’t be Davis’ first appearance on an NBA 2K cover; he was one of three cover athletes for NBA 2K16, along with Steph Curry and James Harden. But NBA 2K20 will feature a series newcomer on its Legend Edition box: former Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade, who did not appear on the cover of an NBA 2K game during his illustrious 16-year career. (He did grace the cover of EA Sports’ NBA Live 06.) Wade retired at the end of the 2018-19 season, calling it quits at age 37.
“Being picked as the face of NBA 2K20 means the world to me,” said Davis in a news release. Wade added, “To culminate my career by joining NBA greats as an NBA 2K Legend Edition cover star makes me incredibly proud.”
2K Sports also offered a glimpse of NBA 2K20 in a brief trailer alongside the announcement. In addition to NBA superstars like Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James, the trailer includes gameplay footage of A’ja Wilson of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, which would make this the first NBA 2K game to feature WNBA players. (EA Sports introduced the WNBA to the NBA Live series in 2017, and brought them into the franchise’s career mode, The One, with NBA Live 19 last year.)
Wilson and Renee Montgomery of the Atlanta Dream both tweeted in February that they will appear in the next NBA 2K title. Asked for further details, a spokesperson for 2K Sports told Polygon that they couldn’t share any additional information at this time, but said “there is more to come.”