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NBA 2K16 Continues Trend of Enlisting Celebrities, Consults Spike Lee

2K16 will offer three different box covers.

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Much like some of the previous games in the series, NBA 2K16 will reportedly feature another big, non-basketball name on its cover: Spike Lee.

The acclaimed actor and director is contributing to 2K16, as evidenced by a photo of the game's cover leaked to Polygon. Just beneath the 2K16 name is the text "A Spike Lee Joint." According to the site, a source close to development has indicated he'll be contributing to the career mode, which was a point of emphasis in 2K15.

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2K15 also featured a celebrity name on its cover, highlighting that Pharrell Williams had curated its soundtrack. That duty was handled by cover star LeBron James the year prior, while NBA 2K13 called out Jay-Z as an executive producer on its cover.

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The involvement of Lee--an avid New York Knicks fan, as I think the picture to the right demonstrates--doesn't come as a complete surprise, as the New York Post reported he was at work on an NBA game project in San Francisco back in March. 2K series developer Visual Concepts is based out of the Bay Area.

Lee's directorial work includes the basketball movie He Got Game, starring Denzel Washington and semi-retired NBA player Ray Allen.

The leaked cover art also reveals there will be not just one, but three cover stars for 2K16: Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant (the reigning NBA MVP) and the two frontrunners for this year's MVP award, Golden State's Stephen Curry and Houston's James Harden. This is the first time there will be multiple covers for a game in the series since 2011, when legends Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird each had their own box art for NBA 2K12.

2K Sports has yet to make any formal announcements regarding NBA 2K16. Unless it deviates from the established norm for the series, you can expect it to be out in early October.

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