Finalists are usually announced during NBA All-Star Weekend in February. The Hall of Fame class of 2026 will be unveiled on April 4 at the NCAA Final Four.
Blake Griffin, Candace Parker, Jamal Crawford, the 1996 USA women’s basketball team, Bruce Pearl and Kelvin Sampson are among the first-time nominees announced Friday who will be considered for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame next year.
Notable first-time nominees also include: Elena Delle Donne and Joe Johnson as players, and Mike D’Antoni as a contributor.
Nearly 200 players and teams were on the list presented by the Hall of Fame on ESPN’s NBA Live, including some finalists who did not make it into the class of 2025, including Jennifer Azzi, a member of the 1996 U.S. women’s team that won gold at the Atlanta Olympics. Azzi is nominated individually again this year.
“The candidates for the Class of 2026 have left an indelible mark on basketball,” said John L. Doleva, president and CEO of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. “Through memorable performances, influential leadership and achievements that helped elevate the sport nationally and internationally, this year’s list recognizes those whose legacy continues to shape the way basketball is played, coached and celebrated.”
Finalists are typically announced during NBA All-Star weekend in February. The class of 2026 will be announced on April 4 at the NCAA Final Four, and the induction ceremonies will be held on August 14-15 at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, and Symphony Hall in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Other finalists from last year making the list again include Gonzaga coach Mark Few; NBA legends Marques Johnson and Buck Williams; and Jerry Welsh, who coached Potsdam in upstate New York, leading it to NCAA Division III titles in 1981 and 1986.
Molly Bolin, the first player signed by the Women’s Professional Basketball League, also returns to the roster, as does former Serbian professional player and long-time coach Dusan Ivkovic, who is already part of the FIBA Hall of Fame. Doc Rivers, the only NBA coach with more than 1,000 wins who has not yet been inducted into the Hall of Fame, is nominated again, as are Amar’e Stoudemire and legendary commentator Marv Albert.
Among the teams that will also be considered are the United States men’s basketball teams from the 1936, 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games; the 1982 Cheyney State team, coached by C. Vivian Stringer, that lost to Louisiana Tech in the final of the first 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, which won the NCAA title and broke racial barriers in the sport by fielding as many as four African-American starting players.
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