NBA 2K18 Legend Edition Featuring Shaquille O'Neal Announced

Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal will grace the cover of the Legend Edition of NBA 2K18, 2K Sports announced in a release Monday:

The Legend Edition will come in two versions, standard and gold. The standard Legend Edition will give players 100,000 start-up VC, 20 weekly MyTeam packs and an array of O'Neal-related bonuses. The gold edition will offer 250,000 start-up VC, with additional O'Neal-related items being added from the standard version.

2K Sports has not announced the cover athlete for the standard retail version. The company has featured a retired athlete on its Legend Edition, with a current player on the standard, the last two years. Kobe Bryant was featured on the NBA 2K17 Legend Edition, with Paul George on the standard.

Bryant and O'Neal were together for the first promotional spot for the game, which also debuted Monday:

NBA 2K has become arguably the most consistently well-regarded sports video game on the planet. The PS4 edition of NBA 2K17 received a score of 88/100 on Metacritic, with all 47 reviewers giving the game a positive score. It ranked as the 10th-best overall video game released on PS4 last year and the top sports game.

This marks the first big clue into what to expect from NBA 2K18. The company is yet to release any major information about new features from last year's edition, which continued 2K Sports' push for a fully customized version of the NBA.

The NBA 2K18 Legend Gold Edition will retail for $149.99, while the standard Legend Edition will go for $99.99. The game will ship Sept. 15 for those who pre-order.