Love him or hate him, it can't be denied that Kobe Bryant is one of the best players ever to pick up a basketball. As KB24 eyes his fourth championship ring and taking Game 1 of this year's Finals with a convincing 40-point performance and a game-high 8 assists, the superstar will be on the cover of 2K Sports' NBA 2K10.

Kobe shares his esteem for the game:

I’ve been playing sports video games for as long as I can remember and honestly, I’ve never seen one come so close to replicating real basketball. What 2K Sports has done is truly incredible and I’m proud to be a partner with them and on the cover of NBA 2K10.

2K Sports is constantly improving and adding something new to their game every year that makes them better and better, and that’s exactly what I try to do each season with my game. It’s as if 2K Sports has been on a sports video game championship run for several years now, and I’m not even sure there’s a word for that kind of dominance.

You might've caught the NBA 2K10 TV spot already which confirms Kobe's cover appearance. That spot was directed by die-hard Knicks fan Spike Lee, who also directed the Kobe documentary "Kobe Doin' Work" from ESPN Films. “It's quite obvious why 2K Sports put Kobe Bryant on the cover of NBA 2K10, which is the best NBA video game,” said Lee. “One day Kobe and I will go 1 on 1 playing NBA 2K10.”

If they do decide to follow-up on that one-on-one, Spike and Kobe can pick which version they'll play with as Take-Two Interactive and 2K Sports will release NBA 2K10 for the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, and the PC in fall of this year.