Longtime NBA head coach Mike D’Antoni will be among the inductees in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s class of 2026, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link).
D’Antoni was selected as a finalist for the 2026 class in February. He’ll technically be inducted as a contributor.
A 6’3″ guard who played parts of four NBA seasons in the 1970s, D’Antoni is most well known for his time coaching the “seven seconds or less” Suns from 2003-08. He helped Phoenix go 253-136 (.650 win-loss percentage) in the regular season over that span, and make back-to-back trips to the Western Conference finals in 2005 and 2006.
The 74-year-old also had a successful four-year run with the Rockets at the end of his career, guiding Houston to a 217-101 regular season record (.682 win-loss percentage). Houston’s best playoff finish under D’Antoni was a seven-game Western Conference finals loss to Golden State, which went on to win the title.
D’Antoni’s head coaching stops with the Nuggets (14-36 in a lockout season in 1998/99), Knicks (121-167 record over parts of four seasons) and Lakers (67-87 over parts of two seasons) were less successful. Overall, his teams compiled a 672-527 regular season record across 16 seasons. His playoff record is 54-56.
A West Virginia native who played his college ball at Marshall, D’Antoni was a head coach in Italy for several years and had NBA assistant jobs with Denver, Phoenix, Philadelphia and Brooklyn. He was also a coaching advisor for New Orleans from 2021-25 and won a pair of medals with Team USA as an assistant (bronze at the 2006 FIBA World Cup and gold at the 2012 London Olympics).
D’Antoni will be inducted the same year as Amar’e Stoudemire, the former NBA big man who had his best years playing under D’Antoni. Doc Rivers, Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne will reportedly be inducted in 2026 as well.
I can name 15-30 coaches better than him off the top of my head.. this is very confusing to me lol.. I guess Erik Spoelstra was a HOFer 15 years ago by this standard?
If Erik Spoelstra retired today he is a future Hall of Famer without a doubt but this wasn’t directly for D’Antoni’s coaching. D’Antoni is being inducted for his contributions. His overseas contributions as a player and coach are numerous, he was an assistant coach for two medal teams. He helped innovative sevens seconds or less and pace, heliocentric offenses and pace and space.
I specifically said 15 years ago because Spoelstra created “positionless basketball” in 2011 when he taught Chris Bosh to shoot 3’s and Lebron James to post up.. its why people like Nikola Jokic, Wembanyama, and Joel Embiid are who they are today
The coach who actually brought back small ball in NBA. Perfected the Pick-n-Roll with Nash.
Was responsible for Linsanity.
Was a top PG in Euro ball and a coaching legend in Italy. He was first Euro coach to coach in NBA.
Well deserved honor.
Congratulations coach D’Atoni 🙏
The lack of talented 7 footers had more to do with small ball returning than D’ Antoni.
Don Nelson>D’ Antoni
The guy who killed Linsanity got into the HOF last year. Melo’s worst moment.
For what? He got exposed in the playoffs every season. Had no idea what to do against teams that actually played defense and could never make halftime adjustments.
Why
Laughable…
If he was inducted as a contributor, why not do the same with Doc Rivers. It makes more sense
Springfield Mass is an appropriate place for the Hall of everybody who has had an impact of some sort in Basketball.