NBA 2K22 adds touching Bill Russell tribute honoring basketball icon

Bill Russell was an all-time great NBA player and 2K Sports has honored the fallen legend with his own personal tribute screen in the game of NBA 2K22.

The news of Bill Russell’s death hit the NBA world hard on July 31. The 11x NBA Champion was known not only as a dominant competitor but also as a fierce leader as well.

He was one of few players to ever make the basketball Hall of Fame both as a player and a coach, and so in the hours following his death, the NBA 2K team put together a small effort to honor one of the greatest to ever do it.

NBA 2K22 adds tribute to the late Celtics legend Bill Russell

The tribute itself is simple but sends a clear message about how important Russell was to the game of basketball.

After loading into the game, every player will see an oversized image of ‘The Secretary of Defense’ that features the timeline of his life.

“Bill Russell 1934-2022,” it reads.

This screen takes priority over the main menu, meaning that every person that logs into the game will get the chance to see and remember the big man.

Mr. 11 Rings remains a playable character in the game thanks to the All-Time Celtics roster and in MyTeam as one of the end-game level Invincible series cards for fans to use.

While the entire world of basketball will be mourning this loss for quite some time to come, it’s nice to see the 2K pay the proper respects to a man who was unstoppable in his day.