Several former NBA stars are among the Class of 2019 for the Basketball Hall of Fame, writes Dave Campbell of The Associated Press. The announcements were made today at the site of the Final Four in Minneapolis.
Sidney Moncrief, Vlade Divac, Jack Sikma, Bobby Jones and Paul Westphal are the more modern players chosen for enshrinement, joined by Al Attles, Carl Braun and Chuck Cooper. Also headed to the Hall are coach Bill Fitch, former WNBA star Teresa Weatherspoon, the Tennessee A&I men’s team that became the first back-to-back national champions in any college division from 1957-59 and the Wayland Baptist University women’s team that strung together 131 straight wins in the mid-1950s and captured 10 AAU titles overall.
Weatherspoon was chosen by the Women’s Committee, Attles was selected by the Contributor Direct Election Committee, Cooper was picked by the Early African American Pioneers Committee, Divac was the choice of the International Committee and Braun was tabbed by the Veterans Committee.
“I’m overwhelmed by this honor,” Divac said in a statement released by the Kings. “As a young man, I never would have believed the opportunities afforded to me by this great sport. “Basketball has looked after me for most of my life, and I’ve always done what I can to give back to this special community.”
The enshrinement ceremony is set for September 6 in Springfield, Mass.
NBA HOF is really lowering their standards. What a Joke.
Everyone on there deserves the recognition, though. Were you hpoing Keith Van Horn and Kwame Brown??
There is no such thing as nba hall of fame it’s the basketball hall of fame
Not exactly star studded, but I don’t have a problem with any of them. The biggest problem for the HOF this go around is that there was no “name” player to lead the class, but all of these people are worthy of being HOFers. It’s just bad luck for the HOF honestly because this year’s induction will probably not be as viewed as it should be because of the lack of big names. But it is what it is and it’s now time to focus on next year’s ballot which shouldn’t have a problem with star power with Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and Kobe Bryant all eligible for the first time.
Agree with Moncrief, Sikma, Jones and Attles. The rest? I think not.
Sikma and Divac? Really?
Of course man, Sikma was a 7 time all-star the only player ever with 7+ ASG not in the HOF, so easy one, should have been a long time ago.
Divac was an absolute monster, he was very good in the NBA, but in Europe & for Yugoslavia/Serbia he was one of the best ever, so counting NBA is only a small part of the HOF, he should be there if only for his international career.
i guess most of us just have a hard time evaluating how good someone is overseas. myself included because divac only averaged 11.8 points and 8.2 rebounds in his career. only had 1 all star appearance and all rookie team are his only accolades
i mean where do we draw the line on that? andrew bogut is a beast in australia, he is a hall of famer? i really dont think divac is a hall of famer but what do i know. seriously though does that mean jimmer fredette is hall of fame worthy because he was a beast in college and we all know he has torn it up in china with his 70 point games every other week
Divac a HOF? That is pretty thin.The whole class seems a bit weak.
watered down HOF should be inducting red panda
I enjoyed all those players that played within my personal timeline– the 5 regular elects and coach Fitch. But this is the year for close calls.