Los Angeles Sparks legend and Chicago Sky homecoming hero Candace Parker (who also got a Tyrese Haliburton like group project ring with the Las Vegas Aces) got emotional as she held the orange and white WNBA ball, like money, during her headlining Hall of Fame acceptance speech.
Dear basketball’s latest letter saw the only player in hoops history to win MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season, coming off a pregnancy, dish the rock off to those inspirations introducing her to the Hall.
Icons of the game Cheryl Miller, Allen Iverson, Tamika Catchings and Dwyane Wade all looked on proudly, as the W’s CP3 divided her stirring speech into four quarters, like the game itself.
Candace capping off a wonderful weekend for honouring women’s basketball that has also seen fellow Hall of Famer, G.O.A.T. Diana Taurasi have her jersey retired by the Phoenix Mercury.
What a time to celebrate the WNBA’s 30th anniversary.
Put this year’s Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class out on the floor across four quarters, mind you, and you’d have one hell of a team suiting up for Springfield, Mass.
Parker, giving it up for her favourite player Ron Harper (me too), not to mention her brother Anthony (who really made his mark here as a Toronto Raptor), would have no problem taking the last shot. And if she had to defer, what about the W big-three she forms with former players Chamique Holdsclaw and Elena Delle Donne? A Holy Trinity of the best players the WNBA have ever seen over this thirty years.
Holdsclaw holds the honour of being the first woman on the cover of SLAM magazine (in a Knicks jersey no less). Something that is common place now thanks to the way her sneakers paved. From the hardwood to the hall. Like Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne is a champion, a Chicago legend, and a big with even higher range on the arc of her shot.
Decked out in a King draft day like white suit, before receiving her new H.O.F. one, Elena got emotional when she talked about the real competitor. Her sister Lizzie, who was born deaf and blind.
“I’ve never met anyone stronger.”
This moving moment was for her.
Delle Donne also gave a pretty, pretty good shout out to ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ star Larry David, who was in the crowd. EDD to LD. Now that’s one hell of a courtside connection.
Behind these three, if you needed any substitutes. How about the entire 1996 United States Women’s national team, featuring legends like Lisa Leslie and Dawn Staley, who really changed the game for all you’ve seen over the last three decades in the women’s world of basketball?
Oh, and there were some NBA legends receiving their orange jackets, as iconic to basketball as the green jacket is to golf Masters, too.
Need a rim-rocker for this team? Then how about Phoenix Suns legend and New York Knick great Amar’e Stoudemire? KG with Dirk like fluidity, as those of his peers offered testimonials in his inspired introduction video. All before he walked out in a black waistcoat and leather flat cap looking the business. Dunking like Kenyon Martin eating a power bar after listening to Young Jeezy (these were the 2000s after all), STAT put up more than numbers above the rim.
What an honour to be enshrined in the same class as his coach Mike D’Antoni. Who brought his experience from Italy, like another great hall monitor, to revolutionize the way the game is played today in seven seconds or less.
He would make a great assistant to one of the game’s greatest with the dry-erase, Glenn ‘Doc’ Rivers, the champion Celtic coach and Knicks player back in the day, with a much different sounding voice. Doc’s distinct gravelly baritone got choked up when he talked about how much his brother means to him or, in this father and son playing together league, what being the first man to coach his son, Austin, meant to him.
The coaching staff wouldn’t be complete without the great Mark Few, who has earnt his place, like many who come to Massachusetts en masse. More than the “who is this guy” jokes the Gonzaga great made in his humble, but beautiful speech.
Now, how about a referee to officiate all of this? And who better than Joey Crawford, channelling Muhammed Ali? It really isn’t bragging, because he truly did it. Blowing the whistle for just shy of a half-century as he was a ref for 2,561 regular-season NBA games, 374 playoff ones and 50 finals contests. That’s a lot of air blown from his lungs. Only a bum knee put his career on ice, but now he is still with the league, aiding in the development of the next class of people manning the side-lines with a little piece of silver between their lips.
Presenting a perfect class, these are your 2026 Naismith Basketball Hall of Famers.
As Doc Rivers and the Boston Celtics would say together…ubuntu.
