Hall of Fame Class of 2026 spotlights women’s basketball and the pace-and-space NBA era

PHOENIX — The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame turned its spotlight toward women’s basketball and the modern game Saturday, unveiling a Class of 2026 that links the birth of the WNBA to today’s pace-and-space era.

The nine-member class, announced during men’s Final Four festivities and recognized later on the court at the women’s Final Four in Phoenix, is headlined by Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne, Chamique Holdsclaw and the 1996 United States women’s national team. They are joined by Amar’e Stoudemire, Doc Rivers, Mark Few, longtime NBA referee Joey Crawford and offensive innovator Mike D’Antoni.

Enshrinement is scheduled for Aug. 14–15 in Springfield, Massachusetts, and at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut.

In a statement, Hall of Fame president and CEO John L. Doleva said the group “reflects the very best this sport has to offer,” pointing to “a referee who set the standard over four decades, coaches who built dynasties at every level, players who redefined their positions, a visionary who changed how the game is played — and a women’s class headlined by a national team that helped launch an entire league, alongside three of the most accomplished players the women’s game has ever seen.”

The decision to introduce and honor the class around both the men’s and women’s Final Fours marked a notable shift for an institution long anchored to the men’s side of the sport. During a timeout of the UConn–South Carolina national semifinal in Phoenix, the women’s inductees and representatives of the 1996 Olympic team were saluted at center court.

A team that helped launch a league

The 1996 U.S. women’s national team enters the Hall as a unit, much like the 1992 men’s “Dream Team” before it. Coached by Tara VanDerveer, the group went 8–0 at the Atlanta Games, winning by an average of more than 30 points and capturing a gold medal that helped convince television networks, sponsors and league executives there was an audience for professional women’s basketball in the United States. The WNBA launched the following year.

That team’s induction comes alongside three of the WNBA’s defining stars from the generations that followed.

WNBA stars: Parker, Holdsclaw, Delle Donne

Parker, a two-time WNBA most valuable player and three-time WNBA champion, is widely regarded as one of the most versatile forwards in the sport’s history. Drafted No. 1 overall by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2008, she became the first player to win WNBA MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season. She later won titles with the Chicago Sky and Las Vegas Aces, in addition to claiming two NCAA championships at Tennessee under Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt and two Olympic gold medals with the United States.

Holdsclaw, a New York City native, was a college phenomenon at Tennessee before the WNBA existed in its current form. She led the Lady Vols to three consecutive national championships from 1996 to 1998, became a two-time national player of the year and then went No. 1 overall in the 1999 WNBA draft to the Washington Mystics. She was a six-time WNBA All-Star and a 2000 Olympic gold medalist.

“It’s been such a journey from New York City, Queens, with dreams of being on the big stage,” Holdsclaw said in an interview with television station WVLT in Knoxville. “To go into the Hall of Fame with my sister, my friend Candace Parker is… just an unbelievable thing.”

Delle Donne, a two-time WNBA MVP, led the Mystics to their first championship in 2019 while authoring the first 50-40-90 shooting season in league history — hitting at least 50% from the field, 40% from 3-point range and 90% at the free throw line. A former national player of the year at Delaware, she finished her college career with 3,039 points and later became one of the most prominent voices on athlete health and chronic illness, sitting out the 2020 WNBA season in the league’s Florida “bubble” due to medical concerns.

The men’s side: the architects of the modern NBA

On the men’s side, the Hall of Fame recognized both the architects and the on-court faces of the NBA’s modern, fast-paced style.

D’Antoni, selected by the Contributors Committee, is credited with pushing the league toward its current emphasis on spacing, pick-and-rolls and 3-point shooting. His mid-2000s Phoenix Suns teams, headlined by Steve Nash and Stoudemire and branded “Seven Seconds or Less” for their quick-hitting offense, routinely ranked among the league’s most efficient and influenced a generation of coaches. He later applied similar principles with the Houston Rockets, winning NBA Coach of the Year twice.

Stoudemire, chosen by the North American Committee, was a six-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA selection who averaged 18.9 points and 7.8 rebounds across 14 NBA seasons. Drafted out of high school in 2002, he earned Rookie of the Year honors with Phoenix and became one of the most explosive big men in the league at his peak, particularly during his partnership with Nash under D’Antoni.

“You play the game because you love it,” Stoudemire told The Boston Globe. “To get into the Hall of Fame, it shows that the voters appreciate it. And now we’re enshrined forever.”

Rivers, currently coaching the Milwaukee Bucks, heads to Springfield with more than 1,180 regular-season victories and one championship as a head coach. He led the Boston Celtics to the 2008 NBA title and a return trip to the Finals in 2010 and previously earned Coach of the Year honors with the Orlando Magic in 2000. Over nearly a quarter-century on the sideline in Orlando, Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Milwaukee, he has managed star-laden rosters and navigated high-profile crises, including the Los Angeles Clippers’ 2014 ownership scandal involving Donald Sterling.

Gonzaga’s Mark Few, another North American Committee selection, is recognized for turning a small Jesuit school in Spokane, Washington, into a permanent fixture near the top of the college game. Since assuming the head coaching job in 1999, he has guided the Bulldogs to 20 or more wins every season, 26 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and multiple national championship game berths. Few has twice been named national coach of the year and served as an assistant on the United States men’s Olympic team that won gold in 2024.

Crawford, also elected from the North American group, spent 39 seasons as an NBA referee before retiring in 2016. He worked 2,561 regular-season games, a record 374 playoff games and 50 NBA Finals contests, appearing in every Finals series from 1986 through 2015. His selection continues a gradual expansion of the Hall’s recognition of officiating as a central part of the sport’s infrastructure.

A class that reflects basketball’s current moment

The Class of 2026 arrives at a time when women’s basketball is drawing record television audiences at both the college and professional levels, and when the stylistic changes championed by D’Antoni’s teams have become standard across the NBA. By inducting a trailblazing women’s Olympic team, three of the WNBA’s most decorated stars, a European-influenced offensive strategist, college and NBA coaching mainstays, and a career referee, the Hall is placing those developments alongside more traditional measures of greatness.

Tickets and VIP packages for the August enshrinement weekend went on sale Saturday through the Hall of Fame. When the inductees gather in Springfield and Uncasville later this summer, their careers will be formally etched into basketball history. The ceremony will also underline a reality already visible on courts from Atlanta in 1996 to Phoenix in 2026: the story of the sport now runs through women’s basketball, global innovation and every level of the game.