by Andrew on Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:44 pm
Based on the timeframe of the announcement in years gone by, I'd suggest that we'll be finding out the cover player for NBA Live 11 within the next couple of months, probably around the time of the Draft unless they go for a really early unveiling as they did with Gilbert Arenas. As such, I thought it might be fun if we start speculating on who might be featured this year as well as any personal preference.
My guess at this point is Kevin Durant. He's appeared on an EA Sports cover before (NCAA March Madness 08), was involved in promotions for NBA Live 08 along with Gilbert Arenas a few years ago and his stock is obviously on the rise with the Thunder's turnaround and his first All-Star appearance. If he doesn't appear on NBA Live's cover I wouldn't be too surprised if 2K reveals they'd snapped him up but given his past relationship with EA I'm picking him for the NBA Live 11 cover.
As for my personal preference, I don't really have one per se as the quality of the game itself matters a lot more than who's on the cover but I have to admit I'd enjoy seeing Derrick Rose on the cover as there's never been a Bull on the cover (aside from a small picture of Michael Jordan for the JORDAN IS BACK! strip on the NBA Live 2000 cover and Luol Deng on the European release of NBA Live 09 and NBA Live 10). However, I wouldn't count on it as Rose isn't quite at the level where he'd be amongst the top choices and he was the face of the NBA 2K10 Draft Combine, so he could still be under contract with 2K anyway.