EA Sports Announces Russell Westbrook As ‘NBA Live 16’ Cover Athlete

After plenty of speculation, EA Sports has announced Russell Westbrook as the NBA Live 16 cover athlete.

Russell Westbrook As NBA Live 16 Cover Athlete

After the past two editions featured the Portland Trail Blazers Damian Lillard and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving, the folks at EA Sports are attempting to regain the public’s trust with Russell Westbrook.

Unlike Madden, which exclusively has the rights for NFL games, there are two different NBA games. And while EA Sports desperately push their Live series, the NBA 2K franchise has dominated the basketball market.

In fact, the last two editions of EA Sports’ series, which was supposed to revive the franchise after a long four-year hiatus, received mixed to negative reviews. But they hope that NBA Live 16 can be their moment to shine, with the new cover athlete revitalizing the brand.

“Russell Westbrook is a player who can do it all, and we can’t imagine a better fit for the cover of NBA LIVE 16,” EA SPORTS VP of Marketing Anthony Stevenson said in a press release. “NBA LIVE 16 is all about self-expression, and who better embodies that than Westbrook, both on and off the court? Russell plays every game like he has something to prove. Our team is building NBA LIVE the exact same way, so we’re thrilled to have him as an ambassador for our game.”

As for gameplay, EA Sports will be talking about NBA Live 16 at next week’s E3, the annual video game convention. Tune in June 15 at 4 pm EST for more game announcements.