Every year 2K Sports dazzles the gaming world with the latest edition or its NBA 2K series, the dominant basketball video game experience that's taken on a life of its own. 

NBA 2K18 will be the fifth installment of the series on next generation consoles, taking huge strides since the 2K Sports team took its talents to Playstation 4 and Xbox One. Information is sparse on what new improvements and features are on the way, however.

What we do know so far is that there will be another "legends" edition, which began last year with Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant on the cover of the inaugural release. Shaquille O'Neal will be the featured legend this time, and 2K Sports finally announced the main cover athlete. 

2K Sports kept fans waiting on who the main cover athlete is, but hours before the NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors begins, it was finally revealed which superstar has the honor this year..

Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving will grace the cover of NBA 2K18, one year after he knocked down the three-pointer felt round the world in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Irving's become one of the NBA's biggest and brightest stars, with LeBron James' return elevating him to even greater heights. 

Here's what the standard NBA 2K18 cover will look like:

Irving follows up Paul George's NBA 2K17 cover. The full list of athletes that have graced the front of the series includes Stephen Curry, James Harden, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Chris Paul, Shaquille O'Neal, Ben Wallace and Allen Iverson. 

Those are all some of the biggest names in the NBA's history, fitting for one of the greatest sports franchises of all-time. 2K steadily raised the bar for years while EA Sports NBA Live franchise struggled to make the transition to next-gen. 

It's a great honor for Irving, who was once featured on the cover of NBA Live. He's steadily become one of the NBA's most marketable stars, his recognition steadily growing going back to the Uncle Drew Pepsi campaign that went viral several times:

Congratulations to Kyrie who now has the title of NBA 2K cover athlete to add to his resume. Surely he'd love to snag his second championship in a row to go with the latest accolade he's been awarded with.