Team Giannis’ Dirk Nowitzki #41 and Team LeBron’s Dwyane Wade #3 receive All-Star commemorative jerseys after an NBA All-Star game as part of the NBA All-Star Weekend 2019 at Spectrum Center on February 17, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Team LeBron won 178-164. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images/AFP
Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker and Pau Gasol – three of the greatest internationals in NBA history – join Dwyane Wade as the leads among the 12 finalists of the Great Hall The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame was announced Friday.
Nowitzki of Germany was a 14-time NBA All-Star champion, won the 2006-07 Player of the Year award and led the Dallas Mavericks to the 2011 title.
Spain’s Gasol is a six-time All-Star, twice with the Los Angeles Lakers and Rookie of the Year in 2002. Parker, born in Belgium and raised in France, is a six-time All-Star champion. , four-time champion with the San Antonio Spurs and 2007 Finals MVP.
Wade is a 13-time All-Star, three-time champion and MVP of the 2006 Finals.
The quartet were four of 11 first-time nominees, and a total of 12 were announced over All-Star weekend. The Class of 2023 will be announced April 1 in Houston during Round 4 of the NCAA Men’s Finals. Potential repositories can be recognized from Direct Elections committees.
The Class of 2023 will be held August 11-12 in Springfield, Mass.
Finalists from the North American committee also include Parker’s coach with the Spurs, Gregg Popovich, who became the NBA’s all-time winning coach in March 2022 — including five championships. tournament champions (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014).
Popovich’s coaching tenure (1996-present) also included Becky Hammon, who served as Spurs assistant from 2014-21, becoming the first full-time female coach of any of the four sports. major professional sport. Hammon, a six-time WNBA All-Star champion, made it to the final round for her accomplishments as a player.
Other finalists for the Women’s Committee were player Jennifer Azzi (Naismith’s 1990 Player of the Year and national champion at Stanford) and coach Gary Blair (852 wins; national champion. 2011 at Texas A&M) and Marian Washington (Kansas record 560; Black Pioneer as a college and international basketball player and coach).
Other North American Commission finalists were coaches Gene Bess, Gene Keady and David Hixon. Bess, who coached at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Mo., from 1971-2020, is an all-time winning college coach at all levels (1,300 wins). Keady, best known for his tenure at Purdue, was a seven-time Big Ten Coach of the Year; and Hixon combined 826 wins at Amherst College (1977-2020) as a two-time Division III national champion and coach of the year.
“The eleven first-time nominees make up the historic pool of finalists for the Class of 2023,” Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame president Jerry Colangelo said in a press release. “It is an honor to be named a Finalist of the Hall of Fame, and their recognition as a Finalist is proof of the legendary achievements and domination displayed throughout. their profession. The Class of 2023 will be remembered as one of the best the Hall of Fame has ever seen, and we are thrilled that this unparalleled collection of talent and achievement will take one step closer to Springfield. .”
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