The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame's class of 2026 will be inducted on Saturday night. It includes Amar'e Stoudemire, Candace Parker, Chamique Holdsclaw, Elena Delle Donne, coaches Mike D'Antoni, Mark Few and Doc Rivers, and the entire 1996 U.S. women's national team. Naturally, it got us to thinking about future classes and who may or may not be included among current players.
We will not be covering any retired players who are either not yet eligible or not yet voted in. This would include the likes of Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook (who just announced his retirement on Wednesday), both of whom are surefire first-ballot inductees. Kyle Lowry is going to get in, too.
I would bet on Andre Iguodala eventually. But those are debates for another day. We're focusing on currently active players and have broken them into tiers ranging from first-ballot locks to those on the outside looking in.
All-time leading scorer in both regular and postseason, both by extreme and still-growing margins. Four championships, including the only 3-1 comeback in Finals history over the 73-win Warriors in 2016. Three Olympic gold medals.
LeBron has played for three franchises and won at least one MVP and a championship with each, the only player in history to do so. He's trying to go four-for-four with the 76ers, but obviously, his legacy and Hall of Fame spot are cemented no matter how this (presumably) final chapter turns out. -- Brad Botkin Once Michael Jordan took official control of the NBA, save for his two-year baseball hiatus, nobody else won. Curry winning four titles in the LeBron era begs an honest question: Was it actually the Curry era?
Since 2015, Curry has won two MVPs, including the only unanimous one in history, to LeBron's zero and the four titles to LeBron's two. Three of those titles came via a head-to-head Finals win over LeBron. Who was the better player during the heart of Curry's run is a real debate, but obviously Curry's first-ballot Hall of Fame status is not.
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