On Thursday, 2017 MVP runner-up James Harden was announced as the NBA Live 18 cover athlete. The last athlete to appear on a Live cover was MVP Russell Westbrook for Live 16 (there wasn't a NBA Live 17 release) and the last Houston Rockets to appear on a Live cover was Steve Francis back in 2002.

Also on Thursday, a bunch of popular YouTubers in the gaming community -- including Jesser The Lazer and Kris London --  dropped amusing videos of themselves going 1-on-1 against the Beard (click here to watch all of them).

In honor of the return (insert your own Jesus Bynum joke) of the EA basketball franchise and the Beard gracing his first video game cover, let's take a look back at the evolution of James and his beard in video games.

NBA LIVE 18 REVIEWS