By Liam McKeone | Sports Illustrated | March 31, 2026
This year’s Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class will be loaded with big names.
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported four of the individuals who will receive basketball’s highest honor. Candace Parker, Doc Rivers, Elena Delle Donne, and Amar’e Stoudemire will be among this year’s inductees. All for make for very qualified candidates and are deserving of induction to the Hall of Fame.
It is unlikely they will be the only inductees, either. The list of this year’s finalists was made up of 21 individuals, and last year’s class saw nine inductees—a group made up of players, referees, coaches, executives, and the entire 2008 Olympic team.
So the quartet of Parker, Rivers, Delle Donne, and Stoudemire will almost certainly be joined by a few others who will receive the honor.
Parker retired from the WNBA in 2024 and boasts a truly incredible résumé. She won back-to-back national championships at Tennessee before heading to the pros. Parker was voted MVP and Rookie of the Year after getting drafted in 2008 by the Sparks; she’d go on to win three WNBA titles and another MVP award. She made 10 All-WNBA teams over the course of her 16 professional seasons, as well as seven All-Star teams.
To cap it all off, Parker is a two-time Olympic gold medalist. Now a member of Amazon Prime’s broadcast team, she figures to be an ambassador for the game for a long time and now gets to enjoy an eternal spot in the Hall of Fame.
Rivers has been a longtime figure in the NBA as a player, broadcaster, and coach. He played for 13 years in the NBA as a point guard and earned one All-Star nomination before retiring to join the TNT broadcast team. He took his first coaching job with the Magic in 1999 and has been… Read More HERE
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