Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne, Chamique Holdsclaw and the 1996 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team are among those headed to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame later this year.
The selections were announced Friday during halftime of the UConn-South Carolina game at the women’s Final Four. Parker, Holdsclaw and members of the 1996 Olympic team attended the game; Amar’e Stoudemire and Mike D’Antoni were also among those named to this year’s class. Other inductees include longtime NBA official Joey Crawford, coach Doc Rivers and Gonzaga’s Mark Few.
Parker won three WNBA titles with three different teams — Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas — and remains the only player in league history to earn MVP and Rookie of the Year honors in the same season. Her résumé also includes two NCAA championships at Tennessee under Hall of Famer Pat Summitt, two Olympic gold medals and two WNBA MVP awards.
Delle Donne captured WNBA MVP awards in 2015 and 2019, leading the Washington Mystics to the franchise’s only title. She became the first player in league history to record a season shooting better than 50% from the field, 40% from three and 90% from the free-throw line.
Holdsclaw was part of Tennessee teams that won three consecutive national titles from 1996-98, including the Volunteers’ undefeated 39–0 season in 1998, and went on to play 11 seasons in the WNBA.
Stoudemire, the lone NBA player in this year’s class, was the 2003 NBA Rookie of the Year and a six-time All-Star. He spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Phoenix Suns, where he teamed with coach Mike D’Antoni.
Rivers has 1,192 career victories, ranking sixth all-time, and guided the Boston Celtics to the 2008 NBA championship; he also coached the Los Angeles Clippers during their “Lob City” era. Few has amassed more than 770 wins at Gonzaga and set an NCAA Division I men’s coaching mark by winning 81 games in his first three seasons at the school.
Crawford officiated 2,561 regular-season NBA games and 50 Finals contests over a 39-year career before retiring in 2016.
The Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony is scheduled for August in Springfield, Massachusetts.
