NBA 2K6 is a 2005 basketball simulation video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K. It is the seventh installment in the NBA 2K franchise and the successor to ESPN NBA 2K5. It was released in 2005 for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Xbox 360. Shaquille O'Neal of the Miami Heat is the cover athlete of the game. NBA 2K6 is the predecessor to NBA 2K7 in the NBA 2K series and is the first NBA 2K title to be released by 2K Sports. This is the first game in the series to be released for the Xbox 360.

ESPN NBA 2K5 is a 2004 basketball simulation video game developed by Visual Concepts and co-published by Sega and Global Star Software. It was released in September 2004 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox in North America, and February 2005 in Europe. The sixth installment in the NBA 2K series, it is the successor to ESPN NBA Basketball, and the predecessor to NBA 2K6. Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons is the cover athlete; this marks the first time in the series that a player other than Allen Iverson was featured as a cover athlete. It is the last NBA 2K game to be released by Sega before the company sold Visual Concepts to Take-Two Interactive, forming 2K Sports. It is also the third and last game to feature the ESPN branding on its front cover.