Being an all-time great player is the obvious way to make the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, but there are four other routes: One can also go in as a coach, referee, contributor, or as part of a legendary team. To date, there have been 475 inductees, and five new enshrinees have been announced for the Class of 2026. The group is headlined by a pair of WNBA MVP winners in Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne.
Also among the newest Hall of Famers are former NBA player Amar’e Stoudemire, NBA head coach Doc Rivers, and college basketball head coach Mark Few. The official list of new inductees will be made at the Final Four in Indianapolis this weekend, but these five names were revealed a bit earlier.
Parker may very well have the most accomplished career in women’s basketball history. She was the first person, male or female, to win the Naismith Prep Player of the Year award, given to the top high school player in the nation. She then won the Naismith College Player of the Year award while at Tennessee, where she also racked up a pair of national championships as a Volunteer.
As a professional, Parker is the only player in WNBA history to win championships with three different franchises. She claimed two WNBA MVP awards and is also the only player in league history to win that award along with Rookie of the Year in the same season. She played at both ends of the court, being named the 2020 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, and if that wasn’t enough, she was the second person to ever dunk in a WNBA game. Parker was also named AP Female Athlete of the Year twice, making her the only women’s basketball player to get multiple honors. She, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James are the only basketball players to win the award multiple times.
Delle Donne is also part of the two-time WNBA MVP club and is a WNBA champion as well. As an amateur, she led all of college basketball in scoring in 2012, and three years later led the WNBA in scoring. A seven-time All-Star and five-time All-WNBA selection, Delle Donne is also a charter member of the famed 50-40-90 club. That’s shooting at least 50 percent from the field, at least 40 percent from beyond the arc, and at least 90 percent from the free throw line. She joined that club in the 2019 WNBA season, making her the first player in league history to become a member.
Despite playing for three different high schools, Stoudemire was the No. 1 ranked prep player in his class, and he didn’t disappoint when he made the jump from high school to the NBA in 2002. He won Rookie of the Year, becoming the first prep-to-pro player to ever win that honor. During his eight seasons with the Phoenix Suns, Stoudemire formed a deadly two-man combination alongside Steve Nash, with the former making four of his five All-NBA team selections. The other came when he joined the New York Knicks, with whom he made the last of his half-dozen All-Star Games. While his NBA career ended in 2016, his pro basketball career did not, and his stint overseas was factored in when evaluating his candidacy for the Hall of Fame. Stoudemire won two Israeli Basketball Premier League championships and was that league’s Finals MVP once.
Rivers’s Hall of Fame résumé is still in progress as he’s currently coaching the Milwaukee Bucks, but he’s one of the winningest coaches in league history. With 1,191 coaching wins to date, Rivers ranks sixth all-time, while his 2,052 games coached ranks fourth. He’s just as prolific where it matters the most, in the playoffs, as Rivers ranks fourth both in postseason wins (114) and games coached (226). Rivers, Gregg Popovich, Lenny Wilkens, Pat Riley, and Phil Jackson are the only men in NBA history to win at least 1,100 games and an NBA championship as a head coach, with Rivers’s title coming with the 2007-08 Boston Celtics.
Few is a rarity in this day and age in that he’s a one-team man. He just wrapped up his 27th season as the head coach of the Gonzaga Bulldogs, after spending a decade with the program as an assistant. Apart from coaching high school at the start of his career, Gonzaga is the only school he’s ever coached at. His .832 winning percentage is the highest in NCAA history (minimum 300 games), and his 773 victories are seventh-most among active Division I coaches. Few’s Zags have never missed an NCAA Tournament in each of his seasons leading the program, and he’s also made a pair of Final Fours and produced 11 consensus All-Americans.
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2026 will be enshrined during the weekend of August 14-15. The Hall of Fame is in Springfield, Mass., where the sport was invented by Dr. James Naismith in 1891.
