The late legend Kobe Bryant has served as the cover star for NBA 2K24 and, for many, a strong incentive to reach the top Collector Level in the game’s MyTeam mode. As the NBA playoffs’ first round wraps up, many fans are more disappointed than excited with the most recent NBA 2K title, as developer Visual Concepts has pulled back on a promise made prior to launch.

In the lead-up to the game’s release date, the NBA 2K24 developer Visual Concepts released a blog post running down the features of its card-collection mode, MyTeam. In that blog post, the developer laid out several features and rewards for the then-upcoming title. It took special care to devote a section to an upcoming Collector Level reward, Kobe Bryant.

In that post, the developer highlights just how crucial Collector Level rewards are to the overall MyTeam experience. “Collector level rewards have always been important in MyTEAM, and last year the rewards came as surprises with a hidden end goal,” the blog post from prior to launch stated. “So let’s look forward a few months and reveal that Kobe Bryant will be the top reward in the Collector Level, and this reward will be available in April, during Season 6.”

First reported by The Washington Post‘s Herb Scribner, with further reporting done by Forbes’ Paul Tassi, NBA 2K24 has changed its top Collector Level reward to not include Kobe Bryant. Instead, players can now choose from two previously released 100-overall cards. However, according to multiple community members, the most recent 100-overall card, Yao Ming, is not an option for players to choose from.

Centering a Collector Level reward around such an iconic and beloved player likely encouraged many to grind (or spend) to achieve the top Collector Level and obtain the reward. Many players have taken to social media and the NBA 2K Community Discord server to voice their displeasure. As of this writing, neither the official NBA 2K nor NBA 2K MyTeam account has posted anything regarding the situation, and the “developer-supported and community-run” NBA 2K Subreddit contains zero posts about the missing reward. However, the MyTeam Subreddit has multiple player-posted threads regarding the problem.

The only community-facing comment from the NBA 2K team that I have found was posted on the official NBA 2K Community Discord. That comment matches the comment provided to me by a 2K spokesperson when I requested comment from the publisher. You can read the entire statement provided by a 2K spokesperson below.

I followed up requesting additional information on why the change was made, but the spokesperson declined to comment further. Some online speculation has posited that licensing issues are to blame, but there is no confirmation or evidence to support that theory outside of 2K’s unwillingness to comment further at this time.

NBA 2K24 arrived on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on September 8, 2023. While the gameplay is one of the stronger elements of the title, among our reviewer’s chief complaints involved the increasingly intrusive microtransactions that permeate multiple long-term modes within the game. This controversy surrounding one of the most monetized modes does little to refute that criticism. You can read our full review here.