This year’s cover athlete for the 2019 edition of NBA Live was revealed tonight and it is none other than The Process himself, Joel Embiid.
Embiid, who was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2014, has quickly risen through the ranks to become one of the league’s best players since finally making his debut in 2016. This past season, Embiid helped lead his team back to the playoffs, earned a starting position on the East’s All-Star team, and was elected to the All-NBA Second Team. From those accolades alone, it’s obvious how he earned his spot on this year’s box art.
The cover athlete announcement coincided with tonight’s NBA Awards, a ceremony where the league’s best players are honored for their achievements over the past year. While Embiid didn’t take home any hardware, the MVP was given to James Harden of the Houston Rockets while Embiid’s current Sixers teammate Ben Simmons took home Rookie of the Year.
NBA Live 19 was announced earlier this month during EA Play and promises to offer players more depth and realism in its create-a-character mode called The One. As always, it’ll be interesting to see how it stacks up by comparison to 2K’s annual series NBA 2K.
Currently, NBA Live 19 is slated to release later this year on both PS4 and Xbox One on September 7.