The Basketball Hall of Fame announces its annual class every year at the Final Four, but we now know of several inductees headlining the class of 2026. Amar’e Stoudemire, Doc Rivers, Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne have been chosen to join the Hall of Fame, according to ESPN. Gonzaga coach Mark Few will join them there, per CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander.
Stoudemire, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, made his name with the Phoenix Suns. He made five All-Star teams there as a key member of the revolutionary “Seven Seconds or Less” Suns, reaching the Western Conference finals several times before ultimately leaving for the New York Knicks in 2010. He’d make one more All-Star team in New York before injuries ruined the rest of his career. He last played in the NBA in 2016 with the Miami Heat, and played internationally for several years afterward.
Rivers spent more than a decade in the NBA as a player, and though he made an All-Star Game in 1988, he will be inducted for his accomplishments as a coach. Rivers is the sixth-winningest regular-season coach ever with 1,191 wins to date. He won a championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008 and reached the Finals again in 2010. He has since gone on to coach the Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, and, currently, the Milwaukee Bucks.
Parker is one of the greatest women’s players of all time. She led Tennessee to consecutive national championships in 2007 and 2008, racking up every imaginable collegiate accolade in the process. She won two MVP awards in the WNBA and three championships, one each with the Los Angeles Sparks, Chicago Sky and Las Vegas Aces.