The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced this week the selection of finalists for its Class of 2026, according to a league press release. The finalists will be put forward to the Honors Committee to be considered for election and the new class will be announced on Saturday, April 4 during Final Four weekend.
The North American Committee Finalists include referee Joey Crawford; coaches Mark Few, Gary McKnight, Dick Motta, Doc Rivers, Kelvin Sampson and Jerry Welsh; and players Blake Griffin, Kevin Johnson, Amar’e Stoudemire and Buck Williams.
The Women’s Committee Finalists include the 1996 United States Women’s National Team and players Jennifer Azzi, Elena Delle Donne, Chamique Holdsclaw and Candace Parker.
Molly Bolin-Kazmer is the lone finalist from the Women’s Veterans Committee. Dušan Ivković (coach) is the lone International Committee finalist while Marques Johnson is the only Veterans Committee finalist. The Contributors Committee chose Tal Brody and Mike D’Antoni as its finalists.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- David Kelly has been unanimously elected as the next NBA Players Association executive director by the Board of Player Representatives, Ian Begley of SNY relays (Twitter link). He’ll replace longtime NBA player Andre Iguodala, whose term expires in July. Kelly has been serving as the managing director and general counsel for the NBPA. He’s also served as a close advisor to Iguodala.
- The Board of Governors might vote on expansion this summer, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (video link) and Dallas Morning News’ Brad Townsend (Twitter link). The BOG’s spring meeting is expected to be critical for stakeholders to better understand the factors around expansion, according to Charania. Some BOG members wanted to vote on expansion in the spring, but it will be tabled until the summer for extra information-gathering and deliberation, according to Townsend. Seattle and Las Vegas have long been considered the top candidates for expansion.
- The Athletic’s Mike Vornukov and Joe Vardon provide an in-depth look at how the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz conducts investigations into various NBA matters. The league has used the firm’s services since 2007.
- All-Star weekend continues today with the three-point contest, the Shooting Stars event and the slam dunk competition and The Athletic’s Steven Louis Goldstein offers a guide to Saturday’s activities. Prior three-point contest winners Damian Lillard and Devin Booker are among the eight participants in that event. The Shooting Stars is making its first appearance since 2015, replacing the Skills Challenge.
Candace Parker and Elena Della Donne are definitely deserving but I can’t really get behind and of the men. Griffin, Stoudemire and Johnson were good but not great. Coaches? I know you guys hate him but Rivers is 6th All-Time on the wins list and not too far behind Riley and Sloan. Mark Few is a no brainer for the NCAA. Welsh as well even though he did most of his work in division II.
Was just coming to say that the Women’s name pop more than the men’s in this class.
Not one of those players belongs in the HOF.
Wrong… Stoudamire, Griffin and Johnson most certainly have a place in the HoF!!!
Buck should not be there, at least you are right about that!
Kevin Johnson will never get in. He raped a young girl.
What did griffin ever win? How many mvp’s? Scoring titles? All nba teams or all defensive teams? He was a very good player, he’s not a hall of famer.
Amare was terrific. I could maybe be convinced he gets in.
I would bet everything you never once saw buck williams play. He was a fantastic player, just not a hall of famer.
Sorry son, when you get older you’ll get wiser.
Look kid, I have been watching hoops for more than 40 years, I am in my early fifties, so… if I get older I’ll pop my clocks, right?
As I said Griffin has 5 All-NBA’s , KJ was great & Stat too… Buck was a very good role player, nothing else, so get your facts straight kid before spewing your nonsense!
5 all star appearances. 1 all nba, second team… son.
See how some of those guys compare to their contemporaries and tell me they’re not worth considering
Joey Crawford…whoa. Is Tim Daugherty eligible?
Donaghy aka the fall guy and cheat that got caught.
If Doc gets in…
If Doc gets in it will be well deserved. 6th all time on the win list and could pass Riley for 5th at some point this season, he’s 4th all time in playoff wins, has a career winning percentage of .583 and he’s also won the COY award and a NBA championship. He’s not on the Auerbach, Popovich and Jackson level but he’s definitely top 20.
He also has the most blown 3-1 leads in playoff history. The fact he only won one championship with that Boston team is actually brutal. At least give the full picture instead of just conveniently looking at all the good parts.
I will acknowledge he will get in because of politics. As in he has sucked up to the right people. But I can’t respect a coach who has repeatedly thrown his players under the bus to paper over his errors.
“Maybe” Motta and Buck Williams. Man, this is a poor group.