Paul Pierce, Doug Collins, Michael Cooper and Lauren Jackson lead the group of candidates for the first time in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame 2021 class, announced Tuesday in ESPN’s The Jump.
Also joining the first group are Howard Garfinkel, Lou Henson, Val Ackerman and Yolanda Griffith, to accompany returning popular candidates Chauncey Billups, Chris Bosh, Richard Hamilton, Becky Hammon, Swin Cash and Ben Wallace.
Pierce spent 15 of his 19 NBA seasons with the Boston Celtics, winning a championship and MVP of the Finals in 2008. He is a ten-time All-Star and second on the Celtics list of goals behind John Havlicek .
Collins has been No. 1 overall draft pick and spent all eight seasons of his career with the Philadelphia 76ers. He is best known for his training, starting with the Chicago Bulls in 1986, where he coached Michael Jordan, preceded by Phil Jackson. Collins continued to coach the Pistons, Wizards and 76ers and has a career history of 442-407.
Cooper spent 12 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers as a member of the “Showtime” era, winning five championships. He was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 1987 and was named five times for the All Defenses team. After his career as a player, he went on to coach at the Los Angeles Sparks, winning two championships and the WNBA Coach of the Year in 2000.
Jackson is one of the most decorated female players, winning four times the honors of the WNBL MVP and three times the WNBA MVP. She is a three-time WNBA champion and seven-time WNBA star, won the defensive player of the year in 2007 and was named MVP of the 2010 WNBA Finals while leading the Seattle Storm to a championship.
Garfinkel was a legendary basketball scout and founded the Five-Star Basketball Camp, Henson is the most successful coach at the University of Illinois and the state of New Mexico, Ackerman was the first president of the WNBA and Griffith played 11 years in the WNBA, winning a title. and MVP of the Finals with the Sacramento Monarchs in 2005.
The selection process for U.S. and women’s committee finalists will take place during the NBA All-Star Weekend, scheduled for early March. The entire 2021 class will be presented during the NCAA Final Four, scheduled for early April.
The 2021 class will be moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, in September 2021. The 2020 consecration ceremony, a star group led by Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, was rescheduled and moved, scheduled for the 13th. of May. 15 a Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut.