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SAN ANTONIO -- For the first time in the history of the world's most prolific basketball video game, a Spur will grace the main cover of NBA 2K.
Three of them, actually, which is its own bit of history.
Victor Wembanyama is officially the cover athlete for the standard edition of 2K27, the newest member of a long list of superstars and the first to wear Silver and Black.
The photo commemorates one of the most important shots of his career, and the inclusion of a pair of his teammates is unprecedented and probably not unintentional.
Here's what makes' Wembanyama's cover so special.
1.
First Spur Ever Wembanyama is the first Spur to ever grace the cover of the standard edition of the game.
Pau Gasol was a Spur when he shared the cover of the Spain Edition of 2K16, but didn't appear in a Spurs jersey.
Tony Parker sported Silver and Black on the France Edition that year, but that's the closest we've ever gotten.
The Spurs superstars of yesteryear like Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard eschewed fame and the spotlight, but Wembanyama has made no bones about his desire to become the face of the league.
In an interview with The Athletic, he reflected on what this means in his pursuit of that goal.
I know it means a lot culturally, too, Wembanyama said.
Its hard to realize for me that Im taking more and more space, more real estate in the world of basketball, in what basketball means, in professional basketball.
2.
A Historic Moment Immortalized The photo selected for the cover comes from one of the biggest moments of Wembanyama's career and for the Spurs' franchise since their last championship.
In mid-March, San Antonio needed just one more win to punch their ticket to the postseason and end a six-year playoff drought.
They were down one against the Phoenix Suns, and Wembanyama took the result into his own hands.
He took a dribble, drilled a mid-range jumper, and set off a celebration across the Alamo City.
"It was hard to take in all the stimulus around me, I had the fans looking at me, I had this guy spilled wine on me," Wembanyama said at the time.
"That was before the end of the game, like I make the shot, sprint back on defense and kind of hit a guy.
I got wine on my shorts now..
it was a lot going on." To that point, this was the biggest shot of Wembanyama's life.
3.
First Cover to Feature Teammates The shot was amazing, and the cover could have featured any number of photos of that shot, or the deep 3 in Game 1 in OKC, or any of his absurd blocks or dunks.
Wembanyama's frame is striking, and they could have used any number of photos to capitalize on that visually-captivating asset.
They didn't, though.
Instead, the photo used for the cover shows Wembanyama celebrating a team accomplishment with his teammates.
It captures the raw emotion on Wemby's face, and it also captures, very clearly, the joyful faces of both Dylan Harper and Devin Vassell as they grab the big fella's jersey and scream into his ears.
Including special editions, there have been 68 different covers of 2K over the years.
Victor Wembanyama's is the only one that shows the unblurred faces of the cover athlete's teammates, and it's such a striking departure from the norm that it's probably not a coincidence.
If Wembanyama specifically requested that his teammates be included in a moment meant to highlight him, it wouldn't be the first time.
Recall that as a teenage rookie, Wemby turned down an invitation from a global superstar because his buddies would have been left out.
"There was a Drake concert in Austin, and he got asked to come up on stage 'cause Drake was doing that with a bunch of NBA guys this offseason," J.J.
Redick said on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast.
"And Wemby was like, 'Can my teammates come up on stage with me? 'Cause they're gonna be at the concert with me.'" When Drake's camp said no, so did Wemby.
"''Then I don't want to do it.' What 19-year-old kid doesn't wanna go up on stage with Drake?" Redick said.
The answer is: the same kid who would turn down $51 million so that his team can have a better chance of building a winner and keeping the young core together.
Given what we know about Wembanyama, and how different his cover is from every other one, it seems highly likely that when he was asked to be the cover athlete, he asked if they could use a photo that featured his friends.
Tom Petrini has covered Spurs basketball for the last decade, first for Project Spurs and then for KENS 5 in San Antonio.
After leaving the newsroom he co-founded the Silver and Black Coffee Hour, a weekly podcast where he catches up on Spurs news with friends Aaron Blackerby and Zach Montana.
Tom lives in Austin with his partner Jess and their dogs Dottie and Guppy.
His other interests include motorsports and making a nice marinara sauce.
Follow RealTomPetrini.