The trio was chosen for their impact and their youth

Jun 27, 2012 09:53 GMT  ·  By

2K Sports has announced that the cover image for the upcoming NBA 2K13 will feature a trio of athletes: Kevin Durant from the Oklahoma City Thunder, Blake Griffin from the Los Angeles Clippers and Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls.

Kevin Durant, who recent played in the NBA Finals with his team, has stated, “Being crowned as one of the NBA 2K13 cover athletes is a huge honor and something I always dreamt about. It’s definitely humbling to grace the cover after the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird.”

Griffin, who managed to get into the playoffs with the Clippers, has added, “There’s so much young talent around the NBA, so it’s very exciting to be chosen for NBA 2K’s ‘New Dynasty’ alongside Kevin and Derrick. The NBA 2K series has always been my first choice when I want to get a game in.”

Kevin Rose, the Most Valuable Player in the 2010-11 season, also expressed his delight at being included on the cover and at the fact that he was following Michael Jordan as the most recent Chicago Bulls player to get the part.

2K Sports says that it has chosen Rose, Durant and Griffin because they have managed to make an important impact on the NBA and the overall image of basketball despite the fact that they are still very young.

It’s interesting to note that the cover lacks the presence of the biggest name in the current season of the NBA, LeBron James, who has recently led the Miami Heat to its first title since 2006.

NBA 2K13 is being developed by Visual Concepts and it will introduce a number of innovations for the series, designed to bring the virtual game closer to what happens on real-world courts.

The game will be launched on the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 on October 2 in North America and three days later in Europe.

A Nintendo Wii U version of the game will also be offered during the launch window of the hardware.