Former NBA stars Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard headline the 2025 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The organization has confirmed the news.
The full list of inductees is as follows:
- Carmelo Anthony – 10-time All-Star, six All-NBA teams, three Olympic gold medals with Team USA, NCAA championship with Syracuse, member of the 75th Anniversary team.
- Dwight Howard – Eight-time All-Star, eight All-NBA teams, three Defensive Player of the Year awards, five rebounding titles, NBA champion, Olympic gold medal.
- Sue Bird – 13-time WNBA All-Star, eight-time All-WNBA, four-time WNBA champion, five Olympic gold medals.
- Maya Moore – Seven-time All-WNBA, six-time WNBA All-Star, four-time WNBA champion, 2013 Finals MVP, 2014 MVP.
- Sylvia Fowles – Eight-time All-WNBA, eight-time WNBA All-Star, four-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, two-time WNBA champion, two-time Finals MVP, 2017 MVP.
- Danny Crawford – Officiated over 2,000 regular season games and 30 NBA Finals.
- Billy Donovan – Currently head coach of the Bulls, Donovan will be inducted for his accomplishments at the college level, including winning back-to-back national championships with Florida in 2006 and ’07.
- Micky Arison – The longtime Heat owner was inducted as a contributor. Miami has won three NBA titles and made the NBA Finals seven times during his tenure.
- 2008 U.S. Olympic Men’s Team – Known as the “Redeem Team,” the Americans went 8-0 en route to a gold medal in Beijing after finishing with a surprising bronze in 2004.
As Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press notes, Anthony and Howard will essentially be inducted twice in the same year, as both were members of Team USA in 2008. Dwyane Wade, Jason Kidd, Chris Bosh and Kobe Bryant, all of whom were already in the Hall of Fame, were also members of that team, as were LeBron James and Chris Paul — both of whom are still active NBA players.
The 17 finalists for the 2025 class were announced in February.
Oh no…Davey J is going to throw a fit. There are players in the Basketball HoF that don’t have Finals Rings. Blasphemy!…That is why it is the “Naismith” Basketball HoF.
He will never be in any hall of fame.
Hall of fame is a great afternoon with the family. They even have some restaurants (great burgers!) in the building.
I usually tie one on at MGM down the road then sleep it off in that parking lot. I went to high school with the dad of a guy who does the security so he lets it slide. It’s always a weird feeling though. Helen and the kids left years ago. But I can still feel them with me there. The kids always loved it. I’ll probably never see them again.
Thoughts and payers, Uncle Daddy.
Embarrassing class.
How so?
El Don: Never heard of Sue Bird? More accomplished than Melo and DH ever were in the NBA…
Not much behind Melo and DH… but, who cares anyway, right?
Yeah right, lol. I’ll use an example. 2004 Argentina won Gold, is their entire team in the hall or just a few key members?
Maybe we should have appropriate due respect here. Sue Bird has greater accomplishments and accolades than Howard. Maybe list them as such? Especially since peer wise Sue Bird was getting in immediately and Dwight is lucky to be going in this early.