Sabrina Ionescu will be on the cover of the NBA 2K24 WNBA edition, it was announced on Friday by 2K.
Ionescu of course had a close relationship with the late, great Kobe Bryant, the Black Mamba, who will be on the cover of the NBA 2K24 NBA edition because he famously wore No. 24 for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Ionescu is one of many female mambas that Bryant mentored. Bryant saw his own killer instinct in Ionescu, which is why she became a mamba. At the time, nobody in college women’s basketball was bigger than Ionescu. She was racking up triple-doubles left and right and was leading perhaps the most exciting team in the country in Kelly Graves’ Oregon Ducks.
Ionescu could have entered the WNBA Draft after her junior year at Oregon (2018-19). Instead she came back for her senior campaign (2019-20) with “unfinished business.” In January of 2020, Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, who looked up to Ionescu and had aspirations of playing in the WNBA, were killed in a helicopter accident. Ionescu then dedicated the rest of the season to Kobe and Gigi.
Ionescu was then the very hyped-up No. 1 pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft. Since she has been in the league, few players have threatened to put up big numbers in all three major categories (points, rebounds and assists) better than her. She truly rose to superstardom in 2022, when she was an All-Star Game starter. She is now in her fourth season, all of which have been with the New York Liberty, and has helped lead the Liberty to a 13-4 record.
