The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame The finalists for the Class of 2023 were announced on Friday, and it’s a prestigious group that includes NBA stars Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki, as well as Las Vegas head coach (and WNBA team member at 25 anniversary) belong to Becky Hammon.
Class of 2023 finalists
- San Antonio Spurs H.C. Gregg Popovich
- San Antonio Spurs PG Tony Parker
- Dallas Mavericks PF Dirk Nowitzki
- Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Lakers F/C Pau Gasol
- Gene Keady, Purdue men’s basketball head coach
- David Hixon, Amherst College men’s basketball head coach
- Olympic Gold Medalist and College National Champion, PG Jennifer Azzi
- Gary Blair, Texas A&M women’s basketball head coach
- Six-time WNBA All-Star PG and Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon
- Kansas women’s basketball head coach Marian Washington
- Gene Bess, Three Rivers Community College men’s basketball head coach (most winning coach in college basketball history)
The class of 2023 members will be announced April 1 in Houston, home of this year’s NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Final Four. The anchoring ceremony will be held on August 12 at Symphony Hall in Springfield, Massachusetts.
There are some interesting possible combinations of players and coaches that can end up in the hall at the same time.
Notably, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich could find himself in Springfield alongside his former star point guard Tony Parker and longtime assistant head coach Becky Hammon.
Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki, who twice faced each other in the NBA Finals and were eliminated in the same year, should get into the hall on the first try.
Wade is a 13-time All-Star and three-time NBA champion who also won Olympic gold in Beijing with Team USA in 2008.
Nowitzki played for the Dallas Mavericks for two decades and led the team to its only NBA title in 2011. He also made 14 All-Star games.
Hammon was very successful as a player and as a coach. She is a six-time WNBA All-Star who made the All-WNBA First Team twice (2007, 2009). Additionally, Hammon won the WNBA crown in her freshman year as head coach with the Las Vegas Aces.
Elsewhere, Jennifer Azzi played a key role in the 1996 United States women’s basketball team that defeated all opponents en route to Olympic gold in Atlanta. She also led Stanford to the 1990 NCAA Division I women’s basketball crown.
And then, of course, there’s Popovich and Parker. Popovich’s 1,358 lifetime wins ranks No. 1 in NBA history, and he also boasts a massive .645 win ratio. He has won five NBA titles, four of which have been with Parker at the helm. The six-time All-Star played 18 NBA seasons and made the All-NBA second team three times.
In summary, this is an invited group of Hall of Fame finalists full of star power. Wade and Nowitzki are leaders thanks to their great resumes, but this should be one of the better classes in recent memory when the final group is announced.