NBA LIVE 06 builds upon the depth and authenticity that the NBA LIVE franchise has delivered for more than a decade and that made last year the best-selling version in the history of the series. With advancements in gameplay and enhanced player graphics, the sport of basketball is elevated to a whole new level in NBA LIVE 06 with the superstars of the game looking and playing more like their real-life counterparts than ever before. Players can feel the emotion and intensity of the complete basketball experience with an up-tempo, fast-break, and physical brand of basketball that yields improved play in the transition game and real-life collisions in the paint.

Electronic Arts announced today that NBA All-Star Dwyane Wade will serve as cover athlete and spokesman for NBA LIVE 06. Wade is in his second season with the Miami HEAT, where he set single-season franchise records for points per game (24.1) and total points scored (1,854) in helping to lead the HEAT to the top seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

“This is quite an honor to be named cover athlete of NBA LIVE in just my second year as a professional,” Wade said. “When you look back at some of the great players who have had this opportunity, it’s exciting to be a part of the EA SPORTS family and contribute to a game I’ve been playing for more than 10 years.”

Wade has emerged quickly as one of the most explosive players in the NBA in just his second season, a year that saw him become just the 10th player since 1979 to finish in the NBA’s top 10 in both scoring (24.1) and assists (6.8) per game. A unanimous NBA All-Rookie First-Team selection a year ago, Wade was a member of the U.S. National Senior Men’s Basketball Team last summer before returning to have an All-Star season for the HEAT this year. Wade, who was selected to the NBA All-Star Game in February, became one of just seven NBA players in history to average at least 25 points, eight assists and six rebounds while shooting 50 percent from the floor in a playoff series as he helped lead the HEAT to a recent four-game sweep of the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the 2005 NBA Playoffs. Wade was recently selected as one of People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People in an issue that hit newsstands at the end of April.