Kobe Bryant will be on the cover of the upcoming Legend Edition of "NBA 2K17," allegedly due to the fact that he is retiring from the NBA. However, the standard edition does not yet have an official cover star, and according to a report from VG 24/7, the cover star will be announced in June, during the "NBA 2K16" Road to the Finals Championship. 

Fans speculate that the standard edition may feature iconic NBA player Stephen Curry as the cover star given that the other legendary player, former Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards player Michael Jordan, was featured in a previous iteration of "NBA 2K."

The Legend Edition is already available for pre-order on Amazon and is currently marked at $79.99. The listing has a placeholder release date of Dec. 30 but the report points out that the game is set to release in September. According to Day Herald, it is likely the game, both the standard and the Legend Edition, will launch by Tuesday, Sept. 27.

However, this is only if the game follows the same release pattern of previous games. "NBA 2K16" released on Tuesday, Sept. 29 2015 and it is speculated that the follow-up will follow the same schedule. It is important to note that 2K Games have yet to make any official announcement regarding a specific release date.

Players who order the Legend Edition will benefit from several physical bonuses as well as digital bonuses. A previous report listed down all of the benefits players will enjoy, which include 30,000 Virtual Currency, a limited edition Kobe Bryant poster, a Black Mamba game controller skin and a digital Kobe hoodie for the game among others.

It is speculated that "NBA 2K17" will generally follow the same game mechanics introduced in "NBA 2K16" with a few refinements to differentiate the two titles. 2K Games has not yet announced if the new title will come with a few new game modes or if several of the existing ones will be removed or altered.