The list of first-time nominees for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for next year is now known. It is undoubtedly the highest honor for any person or team that is part of the sport of basketball and on this occasion names such as Blake Griffin, Candace Parker, Jamal Crawford, the 1996 US Olympic women’s basketball team, Bruce Pearl or Kelvin Sampson appear.
It must be taken into account that we are talking about a preliminary selection that includes almost 200 players and teams, since it will not be until the NBA All-Star when the finalists are known. The final decision; That is, the class that will finally enter 2026 will be announced on April 4 at the NCAA Final Four. Finally, the dedication weekend will be August 14 and 15 at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, and at Symphony Hall in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Continuing with the nominees, Elena Delle Donne and Joe Johnson are on the list for the first time as players, and Mike D’Antoni. Also included are some finalists who didn’t make it into the class of 2025, like Jennifer Azzi, who was part of the 1996 U.S. women’s team that won gold at the Atlanta Olympics. Azzi is nominated again as an individual this year.
We cannot give a graphic example of how important they have all been in the history of basketball, but at least we leave a glimpse with this video of the impact that Blake Griffin had in the NBA at the time.
6x All-Star Blake Griffin is an eligible candidate for the @Hoophall Class of 2026!
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) December 19, 2025
Going back to last year’s finalists returning to the voting we also find Gonzaga coach Mark Few; NBA legends Marques Johnson and Buck Williams; and Jerry Welsh, who coached Potsdam in upstate New York to NCAA Division III titles in 1981 and 1986.
And more recognizable names for the general public include Doc Rivers, the only NBA coach with more than 1,000 victories who is not yet in the Hall of Fame, as well as Amar’e Stoudemire and the legendary announcer Marv Albert.
The teams nominated for the Hall of Fame
Basketball is a collective sport and as such the US Olympic men’s teams of 1936, 1972 and 1976 appear among those designated as candidates; the 1982 Cheyney State team, coached by C. Vivian Stringer, which lost to Louisiana Tech in the opening game of the NCAA Division I women’s national championship; the Kentucky Wesleyan men’s teams that won three Division II national titles in a four-year period in the late 1960s; and the 1963 Loyola Chicago men’s team that won the NCAA title and was emblematic of the fight against racism by including up to four black players in its starting five.
(Photo by Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)
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