Tony Parker Named the Cover Athlete of NBA Live 09
By Chris on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 10:19 AM PST In Electronic Arts, Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Games, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, Videos
NBA Live 09 `Tony Parker` Trailer
Okay, I was wrong with my guess that Kobe Bryant would be on the cover of this year’s Live; sue me. Instead, Spurs point guard Tony Parker will be gracing the cover of EA’s basketball sim, marking the first time a European born player will be the global cover athlete for the game. (Parker has been on the cover of the game in France for five years running. Other countries have their own hometown cover athletes as well, including Pau Gasol in Spain, Luol Deng in the UK, and Andrea Bargnani in Italy.)
“I have a long history with EA Sports. I’ve been on the cover in France for five years straight and I’ve been playing NBA Live for as long as I’ve played basketball,” said Parker. “It’s a real honor for me as a European player to now be represented on the worldwide cover.”
Parker is far from a bad choice, but it’s strange to think they picked the third best player on a team to be on the cover — both Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were clearly better this past season. It’s a shame they didn’t name Paul Pierce to the cover, as that would have been pretty interesting with fellow Celtic Kevin Garnett being the cover athlete for NBA 2K9.
