Joey Crawford

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 to the summer for extra information-gathering and deliberation, according to Townsend. Seattle and Las Vegas have long beeen 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 3-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 3-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.