NBA 2K16 will be a Spike Lee Joint

By Will Fulton April 24, 2015

Spike Lee at a Knicks game. — NBA

Oscar-nominated filmmaker and noted New York Knicks fan Spike Lee is involved in developing the career mode for NBA 2K16, according to in image of the game’s cover art recently leaked to Polygon. Beneath the game’s title the cover bears the text “A Spike Lee Joint,” which is appended to nearly all of his films, such as Do the Right Thing, Summer of Sam, and Bamboozled.

nba 2k16 cover leak — Image used with permission by copyright holder

According to Polygon’s source, Lee is contributing to NBA 2K16‘s single player Career Mode, which was substantially redesigned and prominently featured in 2K15. The leaked cover art also confirms that the game will feature three different cover athletes: Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City and current MVP), Stephen Curry (Golden State) and James Harden (Houston). The series featured three different cover athletes for both 2K12 (Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird) and 2K13 (Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, and Blake Griffith), reverting back to its tradition of a single athlete for 2K14 and 2K15 (LeBron James and Kevin Durant, respectively).

Related: NBA 2K15 gets back in the game: A look at the expanded career modes

This is not the first we’ve heard about Spike Lee’s potential involvement in the project. The New York Post reported in March that Lee was “in San Francisco working on an NBA video-game project.” Lee is also not the first non-basketball celebrity to be featured on the cover for the series. Pharrell Williams curated the soundtrack for 2K15, which was highlighted on the cover. Jay-Z was similarly featured on the cover of 2K13.

2K Sports has not yet formally announced NBA 2K16 in any capacity. Every entry in the franchise since 2007 has come out in October, which makes it a pretty safe bet to expect 2K16 around then. 2K is likely to officially reveal the game in the next month or two, so expect more details by E3 in June at the latest.

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Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

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