– The 1996 US Olympic Girls’s Basketball Staff, Elena Delle Donne, Blake Griffin, and Candace Parker Amongst First-Time Finalists –
SPRINGFIELD, MASS. – The Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame introduced right this moment the collection of Finalists for its Class of 2026 from the next committees: North American, Girls’s, Males’s Veterans, Girls’s Veterans, Worldwide, and Contributors.
The Finalists will then be put ahead to the Honors Committee to be thought of for election as members of the Class of 2026. The brand new class will probably be introduced on Saturday, April 4, in a dwell broadcast on ESPN2 at 12:00 PM (midday) EST throughout Ultimate 4 Weekend.
North American Committee Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Girls’s Committee Finalists:
1996 United States Girls’s Nationwide Staff
Jennifer Azzi [Player]
Elena Delle Donne [Player]
Chamique Holdsclaw [Player]
Candace Parker [Player]
Girls’s Veterans Committee Finalist:
Worldwide Committee Finalist:
Contributors Committee Finalists:
Tal Brody
Mike D’Antoni
Veterans Committee Finalists:
“This 12 months’s group of Finalists represents the total scope of basketball’s affect, from the skilled and collegiate ranks to highschool, worldwide play, officiating, and innovation,” mentioned Jerry Colangelo, Chairman of the Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame. “Their achievements span championships, historic milestones, and a long-lasting affect on how the sport is performed, taught, and skilled all over the world. Every Finalist has made a notable contribution to basketball’s progress and excellence, and their collective legacy speaks to the facility of the game.”
Enshrinement Weekend will start on the Mohegan Solar on Friday, August 14, with the Tip-Off Celebration and Awards Gala, adopted by the Enshrinement Ceremony the following day at Springfield’s historic Symphony Corridor. All occasion tickets and VIP hospitality packages will go on sale on April 4, at 1:00 PM ET, following the 2026 Class Announcement. For extra data, go to hoophall.com/occasions/enshrinement-2026/.
For the newest information and updates, observe @hoophall and #26HoopClass on X, Instagram and TikTok.
North American Committee Finalists:
JOEY CRAWFORD [Referee] – One of many longest-tenured and most achieved officers in NBA historical past, Crawford served as an NBA referee for 39 seasons from 1977-2016. Over his profession, he officiated 2,561 regular-season video games – second most to Corridor of Famer Dick Bavetta – a report 374 playoff video games and 50 NBA Finals video games, working each Finals sequence from 1986- 2015. Crawford started officiating highschool basketball in 1970 and gained skilled expertise within the Jap Basketball Affiliation earlier than making his NBA debut at age 26.
BLAKE GRIFFIN [Player] – A six-time NBA All-Star whose athleticism and flexibility helped redefine the facility ahead place, Griffin was the primary total decide within the 2009 NBA Draft. After not enjoying that season as a result of damage, Griffin was named NBA Rookie of the 12 months in 2011 and went on to earn 5 All-NBA alternatives. He gained the 2011 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, showcasing his signature explosiveness, and led the NBA in dunks in consecutive seasons (2011-12, ‘12-13). Griffin performed the vast majority of his profession with the LA Clippers (2009-18), serving to rework the franchise right into a constant playoff contender, and later performed for the Detroit Pistons (2018-21), Brooklyn Nets (2021-22), and Boston Celtics (2022-23). He starred collegiately at Oklahoma, the place he was the consensus Nationwide Participant of the 12 months in 2009.
MARK FEW [Coach] – Some of the profitable coaches in school basketball historical past, Few has led Gonzaga to sustained nationwide prominence. He guided the Bulldogs to NCAA championship recreation appearances in 2017 and 2021 and to 25 consecutive NCAA Event berths and counting. Few is the winningest lively coach by profitable proportion and has recorded at the least 20 wins in each season as Gonzaga’s head coach. He’s a two-time Naismith Coach of the 12 months (2017, ‘21), gained quite a few West Coast Convention titles, and was an assistant coach for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Males’s Basketball Staff that took dwelling the gold medal.
KEVIN JOHNSON [Player] – Some of the dynamic level guards of his period, Johnson spent the vast majority of his 12-year NBA profession with the Phoenix Suns, incomes three NBA All-Star alternatives (1990, ‘91, ‘94) and 4 All-NBA Second-Staff honors (1989, ‘90, ‘91, ‘94). Johnson was the primary participant in NBA historical past to common at the least 20 factors, 10 assists, a .500 subject purpose proportion, and two steals per recreation for a complete season (1990-91), and the third all-time to put up 20 factors and 10 assists per recreation in three consecutive seasons, following Corridor of Famers Oscar Robertson and Isiah Thomas. The NBA’s Most Improved Participant in 1989, Johnson was the primary participant on the College of California, Berkeley to have his jersey retired (1992) and was inducted into the Suns’ Ring of Honor in 2001.
GARY McKNIGHT [Coach] – A fixture in highschool basketball for greater than 4 many years, McKnight has served as the top boys’ basketball coach at Mater Dei Excessive Faculty since 1982, compiling greater than 1,300 profession victories, second most all-time amongst males’s highschool coaches. He has led Mater Dei to 11 California state championships and a nationwide title in 2014, capped by an ideal 35-0 season. McKnight’s profession has been acknowledged with quite a few honors, together with the Morgan Wootten Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching Excessive Faculty Basketball, the Naismith Boys’ Excessive Faculty Coach of the 12 months Award and MaxPreps Nationwide Coach of the 12 months for all sports activities in 2014, in addition to ESPN Nationwide Coach of the 12 months in 1987.
DICK MOTTA [Coach] – Motta had teaching success in any respect ranges of the sport – beginning on the junior school degree in 1954. Motta went on to be named NBA Coach of the 12 months in 1971 and led the Washington Bullets to the 1978 NBA championship. His résumé additionally contains two Massive Sky regular-season titles at Weber State and a state highschool championship in Grace, Idaho. Throughout his NBA profession, Motta coached 5 franchises – the Bullets, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets – and ranks ninth in league historical past in regular-season video games coached and 14th in wins. He obtained the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award from the NBA Coaches Affiliation in 2015 and was inducted into the Massive Sky Convention Corridor of Fame in 2024.
DOC RIVERS [Coach] – Rivers has amassed over 1,175 wins in 27 seasons as an NBA head coach with the Orlando Magic (1999-2003), Boston Celtics (2004-13), Los Angeles Clippers (2013-20), Philadelphia 76ers (2020-23), and Milwaukee Bucks (2023-present). He led the Celtics to a pair of NBA Finals appearances, profitable the championship in 2008, and was named NBA Coach of the 12 months in 2000. A former NBA All-Star level guard throughout his 13-year enjoying profession, Rivers just lately moved into sixth place on the NBA’s all-time teaching wins listing, passing George Karl, whereas his 114 playoff victories rank fourth all-time.
KELVIN SAMPSON [Coach] – A coach with greater than 800 profession victories, Sampson started his head teaching profession at NAIA Montana Tech and has constructed a résumé that features stops at Washington State, Oklahoma, Indiana, and Houston. At Oklahoma, he led the Sooners to the 2002 Ultimate 4, and at Houston he guided the Cougars to 2 extra Ultimate 4 appearances (2021, ‘25). In November, he turned the seventeenth males’s basketball coach (fourth lively) to succeed in 800 profession wins. Identified for emphasis on protection and participant growth, Sampson is a two-time AP Coach of the 12 months (1995, 2024) and has earned a number of convention regular-season and postseason championships.
AMAR’E STOUDEMIRE [Player] – A six-time NBA All-Star (2005, ‘07-11) and 2003 NBA Rookie of the 12 months, Stoudemire averaged 21.4 factors and eight.3 rebounds throughout his first eight seasons with the Phoenix Suns (2002-10) earlier than signing with the New York Knicks (2010-15). The ninth total decide within the 2002 NBA Draft immediately out of highschool, Stoudemire earned 5 All-NBA alternatives and was a key determine in Phoenix’s “Seven Seconds or Much less” period. He efficiently returned from microfracture knee surgical procedure that restricted him to 3 video games in 2005-06 and averaged over 20 factors and eight rebounds in every of the following three seasons, together with a career-high 25.2 factors in 2007-08. Stoudemire completed his 14-year NBA profession (2002-16) averaging 18.9 factors and seven.8 rebounds.
JERRY WELSH [Coach] – Welsh compiled a 494-141 report over 22 seasons as a head coach at SUNY Potsdam (1968-91), the place he guided the Bears to the 1981 NCAA Division III nationwide championship and three Ultimate 4 appearances (1979, ‘81, ‘86). Named the NABC Division III Coach of the 12 months in 1981 following his title run, Welsh constructed a dominant program at Potsdam. His groups both gained or shared the State College of New York Athletic Convention (SUNYAC) regular-season title in every of his ultimate 15 seasons. From 1985 to 1987, SUNY Potsdam set a Division III report with 60 consecutive victories and went a dominant 254-13 at dwelling. Welsh then went on to educate at Iona College for 4 seasons.
BUCK WILLIAMS [Player] – A 3-time NBA All-Star (1982-83, ’86), Williams ranks third in NBA historical past in offensive rebounds (4,526) and sixteenth in whole rebounds (13,017). He earned 4 NBA All-Defensive Staff honors, was named to the NBA All-Rookie Staff, and completed second in Rookie of the 12 months voting in 1982. The third total decide within the 1981 NBA Draft following his All-American profession at Maryland, Williams led the NBA in offensive rebounds in 1983-84 (355) and performed in all 82 video games in a season 4 occasions. Williams spent the primary eight seasons of his 17-year profession with the New Jersey Nets (1981-89) earlier than being traded to Portland, the place he helped lead the Path Blazers to NBA Finals appearances in 1990 and ‘92.
Girls’s Committee Finalists:
1996 UNITED STATES WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM – The 1996 United States Girls’s Nationwide Staff captured the gold medal on the Atlanta Video games, ending with an undefeated 8-0 report and a mean margin of victory of greater than 30 factors. Coached by Tara VanDerveer, the crew featured a roster that included future Corridor of Famers Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, Daybreak Staley, Teresa Edwards, Rebecca Lobo, and Katrina McClain. The squad’s dominant efficiency helped elevate the worldwide profile of girls’s basketball and contributed to the launch of the WNBA later that 12 months.
JENNIFER AZZI [Player] – The 1990 Naismith Faculty Participant of the 12 months and Wade Trophy recipient, Azzi led Stanford to the 1990 NCAA nationwide championship and was named the match’s Most Excellent Participant. She additionally excelled on the worldwide stage, profitable a gold medal within the 1996 Olympic Video games and the 1990 and ’98 FIBA World Championships and enjoying 4 seasons overseas. Following her skilled profession abroad, Azzi co-founded the short-lived American Basketball League (ABL) earlier than embarking on a five-year stint within the WNBA (1999-2003). In 2021, Azzi was inducted into the Girls’s Basketball Corridor of Fame.
ELENA DELLE DONNE [Player] – A two-time WNBA Most Beneficial Participant (2015, ‘19), Delle Donne starred for the Chicago Sky and Washington Mystics and led Washington to its first WNBA championship in 2019. Delle Donne, who was named to the WNBA’s twenty fifth Anniversary Staff in 2021, was a seven-time All-Star and four-time All-WNBA First Staff choice, and was chosen because the league’s Rookie of the 12 months in 2013. A two-time First-Staff All-American on the College of Delaware, Delle Donne was chosen second total within the 2013 WNBA Draft and gained an Olympic gold medal with the U.S. crew on the 2016 Video games in Rio de Janeiro.
CHAMIQUE HOLDSCLAW [Player] – A six-time WNBA All-Star (1999-03, ‘05), Holdsclaw was the primary total decide within the 1999 WNBA Draft after main Tennessee to 3 consecutive NCAA nationwide championships (1996-98). The 1999 Rookie of the 12 months and 2002 scoring champion averaged 16.9 factors and seven.6 rebounds over her 11-year WNBA profession with the Washington Mystics (1999-04), Los Angeles Sparks (‘05-07), Atlanta Dream (‘09), and San Antonio Silver Stars (‘10). Holdsclaw, who gained an Olympic gold medal in 2000, was a two-time Naismith Faculty Participant of the 12 months (1998, ‘99) and completed because the SEC’s all-time main scorer. She was inducted into the Girls’s Basketball Corridor of Fame in 2018.
CANDACE PARKER [Player] – Some of the achieved gamers in ladies’s basketball historical past, Parker is a three-time WNBA champion (2016, ‘21, ‘23) and two-time league MVP (2008, ‘13), incomes Finals MVP honors in 2016. She is the one participant in WNBA historical past to be named Rookie of the 12 months and MVP in the identical season (2008) and was additionally acknowledged because the league’s Defensive Participant of the 12 months in 2020. A seven-time WNBA All-Star and All-WNBA First Staff choice, Parker starred collegiately at Tennessee, profitable two NCAA nationwide championships (2007-08), and is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2008, ‘12).
Girls’s Veterans Committee Finalists:
MOLLY BOLIN-KAZMER [Player] – A pioneering determine in ladies’s skilled basketball, Bolin-Kazmer was the primary participant signed in Girls’s Skilled Basketball League (WBL) historical past and have become often called “Machine Gun” Molly for her prolific scoring potential. She led the Iowa Cornets to back-to-back WBL championship appearances (1979, 1980), set a single-game scoring report with 55 factors on March 2, 1980, and earned the league’s co-MVP honors with Corridor of Famer Ann Meyers (Drysdale) in 1980. Bolin-Kazmer averaged 32.8 factors in 1980-81, the very best skilled scoring common ever by a girl at the moment. She was inducted into the Iowa Excessive Faculty Basketball Corridor of Fame in 1986 and the Grand View Faculty Athletic Corridor of Fame in 1999.
Worldwide Committee Finalist:
DUŠAN IVKOVIĆ [Coach] – A former Serbian skilled basketball participant, Ivković’s teaching profession spanned six many years and earned quite a few prestigious honors, together with being named one of many 50 Best EuroLeague Contributors in 2008, a EuroLeague Basketball Legend in 2017, and being inducted into the FIBA Corridor of Fame in 2017. He gained two EuroLeague championships (1997, 2012) and led the Yugoslavia nationwide crew to an Olympic silver medal in 1988 and to a FIBA World Championship title in 1990. Ivković coached legendary European golf equipment together with Partizan Belgrade, Olympiacos, and Actual Madrid, profitable a number of European championships, and coached quite a few gamers who turned NBA stars, together with Dražen Petrović, Vlade Divac, and Predrag Stojaković.
Contributor Committee Finalists:
TAL BRODY – Brody, a basketball ambassador throughout the globe for greater than 50 years, led Maccabi Tel Aviv to the 1977 FIBA European Champions Cup, marking the primary time an Israeli crew had gained Europe’s high membership competitors. A College of Illinois All-American in 1965, he was chosen twelfth total in that 12 months’s NBA Draft by the Baltimore Bullets however opted to play in Israel. There, he made historical past because the nation’s first athlete to obtain the Israel Prize, its highest civilian honor, in 1979. His No. 6 jersey was retired by Maccabi Tel Aviv, the place he gained 10 Israeli League titles and 6 State Cups. He was inducted into the Worldwide Jewish Sports activities Corridor of Fame in 1996, the U.S. Jewish Sports activities Corridor of Fame in 2011, and the Illinois Athletics Corridor of Fame in 2020.
MIKE D’ANTONI – An necessary determine within the evolution of recent basketball, D’Antoni influenced the sport via innovation by way of his up-tempo, space-and-pace philosophy that helped redefine offensive technique, emphasizing ball motion, capturing and effectivity and shaping the analytics-driven period of the game. D’Antoni’s affect spans continents, having coached professionally in Italy for eight seasons earlier than bringing his concepts to the NBA, the place he amassed practically 1,200 profession wins. He was named NBA Coach of the 12 months twice (2005, ‘17), served as an assistant coach for the gold medal-winning 2012 U.S. Olympic Staff, and was acknowledged as one of many 50 Best Contributors in EuroLeague historical past in 2008.
Veterans Committee Finalist:
MARQUES JOHNSON [Player] – A five-time NBA All-Star (1979-81, ’83, ’86) and three-time All-NBA choice, together with first-team accolades in 1978-79, Johnson averaged 20.1 factors and seven.0 rebounds throughout his 11-year NBA profession with the Milwaukee Bucks (1977-84), Los Angeles Clippers (1984-87), and Golden State Warriors (1989-90). Chosen third total within the 1977 NBA Draft, Johnson performed a key function in main UCLA to the 1975 NCAA nationwide championship underneath Corridor of Fame coach John Picket. Credited with pioneering the “level ahead” function, Johnson helped the Bruins to a 98-10 report throughout his collegiate profession and gained the inaugural John Picket Award in 1977. The Bucks retired his No. 8 jersey in 2019.
In regards to the Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame
Situated in Springfield, Massachusetts, town the place basketball was born, the Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame is an unbiased nonprofit 501(c)(3) group devoted to selling, preserving, and celebrating the sport of basketball at each degree—women and men, newbie {and professional} gamers, coaches, and contributors—each domestically and internationally. The Corridor of Fame museum is dwelling to greater than 475 inductees and over 40,000 sq. ft of basketball historical past. Almost 200,000 individuals go to the Corridor of Fame museum annually to be taught concerning the recreation, expertise the interactive reveals, and check their abilities on the Jerry Colangelo “Court docket of Goals.” Finest identified for its annual marquee Enshrinement Ceremony honoring the sport’s elite, the Corridor of Fame additionally operates over 150 highschool and collegiate competitions yearly all through the nation and overseas. For extra data on the Basketball Corridor of Fame group, its museum, and occasions, go to hoophall.com and observe @hoophall#26HoopClass.
