'NBA 2K18' cover in jeopardy if Kyrie Irving trade happens before new season

The cover for "NBA 2K18," the next instalment in 2K Sports' NBA video game series, could see a last-minute change if the Cleveland Cavaliers oblige star Kyrie Irving's reported trade request before the 2017-18 NBA season. The game is scheduled for a Sept. 15 release. The NBA regular season gets underway in Oct.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Irving wants to step out of LeBron James' shadow and embrace his own team. With James refusing to commit to Cleveland beyond the coming season, Irving recently divulged to Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, his reservations about the roster after the 2017-18 season. According to several analysts, the Cavs roster was put together to cater James' playing style.

With Jimmy Butler and Paul George already finding new homes this offseason, word around the league is that the Cavaliers will convince Irving to stay put for another year. However, the Cavs are reportedly engaging teams on a potential Kyrie Irving trade after promoting Koby Altman to the role of general manger.

NBA 2K18 cover: What happens if Kyrie Irving gets traded?

Jeff Wechsler, the agent of Irving, did not confirm or deny Irving's trade request during a recent conversation with ESPN. "Kyrie and I had a meeting with Cavs leadership where we discussed many different scenarios in reference to Kyrie and his future with the team. The basis of those discussions and what went on in those discussions are between the Cavs and us. We are respectfully going to keep those private."

Irving has reportedly listed Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks, Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs as possible destinations. Timberwolves stars Karl Anthony-Towns and Jimmy Butler have already reached out to Irving. According to Yahoo Sports' Jordan Schultz, the Cavaliers, Knicks and the Suns are discussing a potential three-team trade that would send Carmelo Anthony and Eric Bledsoe to Cleveland, Irving to New York and the duo of Kevin Love and rookie guard Frank Ntilikina to Phoenix.

According to Brian Mazique of Forbes, 2K Sports has yet to respond to the potential threat of an outdated cover if the Cavs do pull the trigger on a Kyrie Irving trade. "I reached out to the company for comment, but as of publishing time, I hadn't received a response. However, Ronnie Singh aka Ronnie 2K, the NBA 2K Community Manager, tweeted this shortly after the rumours began to swirl."

Mazique added that a pre-season Irving trade would be unprecedented. "The NBA 2K series has been in existence since 1999 and it has had 18 different cover athletes. In that time, not one of them has ever been traded before the game was released, or even in the same season in which they were named the cover athlete. If Irving is traded, what would 2K do about their outdated cover?"

NBA 2K18 release date

"NBA 2K18" will be available for pre-order customers on Sept. 15. It will hit the stores on Sept. 19. Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal will be the cover athlete of the Legend Edition. For the first time ever, "NBA 2K18" will be playable on the Nintendo Switch, besides PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows.