Thirteen players from the NBA and WNBA, along with the late NBA legend Jerry West, will be enshrined in the 2024 class of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday in Springfield, Mass.
West, who was first inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980, will be enshrined for a record third time.
Here’s everything you need to know about the weekend’s hoop festivities.
Where and when and how to watch
Springfield, home of the Basketball Hall of Fame and the annual host of the ceremony, will be the site of enshrinement, as it has since 1959. The event begins at 6 p.m. ET.
NBA TV will cover the event.
Here’s who is being inducted and their presenters
Bo Ryan presented by Gene Keady (Class of 2023), Roy Williams (’07)
Ryan, who spent 32 years as a collegiate head coach and over 14 seasons with Wisconsin, finished 26th on the NCAA’s all-time wins record.
He boasts a career coaching record of 747-233 and a 76.2 win percentage. That’s the most wins in Wisconsin program history and the best winning percentage (73.7) in Big Ten history. The 76-year-old former coach led his Wisconsin teams to a national championship appearance, two consecutive Final Fours in 2015 and 2016 and seven Big Ten titles.
Charles Smith presented by Joe Dumars (’06)
While Smith had a successful, nine-season career in the NBA, the forward’s college career at Pittsburgh was the more decorated individual portion of his career.
During his four-year stint with Pittsburgh, Smith earned the 1984-85 Big East rookie of the year, 1987-88 Big East player of the year and four All-Big East selections.
He started each of his 122 games over his four years at the college level, increasing his scoring by nearly at least a point per season. Smith still holds program records at Pittsburgh for points, both free throws attempted and made, total blocks and blocks per game.
Smith also averaged 14.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists with the LA Clippers, New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs.
Chauncey Billups presented by Ben Wallace (’21), Larry Brown (’02), Tina Thompson (’18)
The pinnacle of Billups’ career came in 2004 when he led the Detroit Pistons to a 2004 NBA Finals win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Billups earned 2004 Finals MVP honors, posting 17.9 points, 5.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds on 50.9/47.1/92.9 shooting splits. Aside from his success during that postseason run, Billups racked up the accolades during his 17-year career. The point guard earned five All-Star selections, three All-NBA selections and two All-Defensive selections.
Chauncey Billups defends fellow 2024 Hall of Fame inductee, Vince Carter. (Photo: Al Tielemans / Getty Images)
Though Billups only played two seasons in college at Colorado, he was named a consensus All-American, an All-Big Eight selection in 1996 and an All-Big 12 selection in 1997 once the conference expanded. The former Buff is entering his fourth season as coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, where he has a record of 81-165.
Dick Barnett presented by Bill Bradley (’83), Earl Monroe (’90)
Barnett began his professional career playing for the Syracuse Nationals before moving on to the Lakers and Knicks. The left-hander earned one All-Star nod and won two NBA championships with the Knicks in 1970 and 1973, beating Los Angeles both times.
He averaged at least 18 points per game four times in his career, with his career-best 23.1 coming in 1965-66.
Doug Collins presented by Billy Cunningham (’86), Jerry Reinsdorf (’16)
Collins’ NBA career began in 1973 when the Philadelphia 76ers selected him with the No. 1 pick in the draft. The Illinois native only averaged single-digit scoring numbers his rookie season, and by his third year in the NBA, he was an All-Star. Collins was selected to four All-Star games throughout his eight-season career.
But where Collins really dominated was at Illinois State before his time with the 76ers. The former 6-foot-6 guard averaged 29.1 points per game over his three seasons on campus, earning a consensus All-American selection.
After his playing career, Collins had the opportunity to coach arguably the game’s best player of all time. He retired in 1981 and by 1986 was the head coach of the Chicago Bulls. His first season coincided with Michael Jordan’s highest-scoring season in the NBA, when he averaged a gaudy 37.1 points per game on 48.2 percent shooting from the field. Collins and Jordan spent three seasons together from 1986 to 1989.
After Chicago, Collins coached the Pistons, Washington Wizards and 76ers. He reunited with Jordan on the Wizards for the final two seasons of Jordan’s career.
Harley Redin presented by Alice “Cookie” Barron (’19), Cherri Rapp (’19)
Redin’s domain was women’s basketball, where he coached Wayland Baptist’s team to a 437-68 record over 18 seasons. Yes, you read that correctly. Anytime coach Redin and his team stepped on the hardwood, they had a 94.2 percent chance of winning the game.
Redin won six national AAU titles and notched six second-place finishes at Wayland Baptist. He began his tenure at Wayland Baptist in 1956, when the university was already well into its 131-game win streak that spanned from 1953 to 1958. Redin was responsible for leading Wayland Baptist to the final 76 wins during that streak.
Herb Simon presented by Larry Bird (’98), Reggie Miller (’12), Tamika Catchings (’20)
Simon, the Indiana Pacers’ Sports and Entertainment chairman and owner, is the NBA’s longest-tenured owner in league history.
Along with the help of his brother, Melvin, Simon purchased the Pacers in 1983. Since then Indiana has amassed 27 playoff appearances, one NBA Finals appearance, eight Eastern Conference Finals appearances and two Eastern Conference semifinal appearances.
The franchise has only one postseason appearance not under Simon’s tenure since the organization moved from the ABA to the NBA in 1976.
Jerry West presented by Bob McAdoo (‘00), Del Harris (‘22), Jamaal Wilkes (‘12), James Worthy (‘03), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (‘95), Magic Johnson (‘02), Michael Cooper (‘24), Pat Riley (‘08), Pau Gasol (‘23), Shaquille O’Neal (‘16), Vlade Divac (‘19)
West’s NBA career spanned roughly 50 years.
As a player, he won the 1969 NBA Finals MVP, was selected to 14 All-Star teams and 12 All-NBA teams and was a five-time All-Defensive selection.
He was only a couple of years removed from his 14-year career with the Lakers when he became the team’s head coach in 1976, a position he held for three seasons.
West returned to Los Angeles as an executive in 1982, where he stayed until 2000. From 2002 t0 2007, West was an executive for the Memphis Grizzlies. He also served in advisor roles for the Clippers and Golden State Warriors.
This marks the third time West has been enshrined in the Hall. The first came after an illustrious playing career in 1979. West was again honored with enshrinement as a member of the United States’s 1960 Olympic team that won the gold medal in Rome.
West, who inspired the NBA’s silhouetted logo, died in June. He was 86.
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Michael Cooper presented by Abdul-Jabbar (‘95), Worthy (‘03), Lisa Leslie (‘15), Johnson (‘02), Riley (‘08),
The lifelong Laker spent 12 years in the NBA, winning five championships, notching five All-Star selections and eight All-Defensive selections and was named as the top defensive player of the year in 1987.
Though Cooper only averaged double-figure scoring numbers twice in the league, he posted 15.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in college over two seasons at New Mexico.
Cooper joined Los Angeles’ coaching staff as an assistant from 1993 to 1996, and coached 14 games as the Denver Nuggets’ interim head coach during the 2004-05 season.
The five-time champ also spent 12 seasons as a head coach in the WNBA with the Los Angeles Sparks and Atlanta Dream and two years as an assistant with the Dream. Cooper led the Sparks to back-to-back WNBA championships in 2001 and 2002, going 53-11 over those two years.
Cooper has a 230-158 record as a head coach in the WNBA.
Michele Timms presented by Katie Smith (‘18), Teresa Edwards (‘11)
Timms spent the entirety of her five-year WNBA career with the Phoenix Mercury, where she earned an All-Star nod in 1999. She is also a three-time Olympic medalist representing Australia. Timms’ No. 7 became the first Mercury jersey to be retired.
In 2005, she came back to join Paul Westhead’s coaching staff with the Mercury as an assistant.
Seimone Augustus presented by Lindsay Whalen (’22)
Augustus’ greatness was obvious by the time she reached Louisiana State. She averaged 19.3 points and 5.2 rebounds on 38.8 percent shooting from 3 over her four years.
During her time at LSU, Augustus was named a three-time NCAA All-Region selection, a four-time All-SEC selection and a four-time AP All-American selection. She won two AP Player of the Year awards, two Naismith Awards, two SEC Player of the Year awards and two Wood Awards.
Augustus was selected by the Minnesota Lynx with the No. 1 pick in the 2006 WNBA Draft. She made an immediate impact, winning the 2006 rookie of the year. By the time Augustus stepped away from the game in 2020 after a 15-year career, she was a four-time WNBA champion, Finals MVP, eight-time All-Star and six-time All-WNBA selection.
To add to her long list of accomplishments, Augustus was also a three-time Olympic gold medalist.
Vince Carter presented by Julius Erving (‘93), Tracy McGrady (‘17)
Aside from the All-NBA and All-Star selections, arguably the most impressive part of Carter’s career was the 22 seasons he played in the NBA — a league record.
Carter was an eight-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA selection, and one of the most prolific dunkers of all time. He has several poster dunks and a 2000 NBA Dunk Contest trophy to prove it. The Warriors drafted Carter with the No. 5 pick in the 1998 NBA Draft.
Though Carter was drafted by Golden State, he was traded to the Toronto Raptors on draft night for his college teammate, Antawn Jamison.
Carter split his prime between the Raptors and New Jersey Nets, where he averaged 23.4 and 23.6 points per game, respectively. He also played for the Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings and Atlanta Hawks.
Walter Davis presented by Bobby Jones (‘19), Charlie Scott (‘18), David Thompson (‘96), Jerry Colangelo (‘04), McAdoo (‘00), Williams (‘07)
Davis was an anomaly in that he posted career highs in points (24.2) and rebounds (6.0) during his rookie season. Those numbers earned him the 1978 rookie of the year, his first of six All-Star selections and his first of two All-NBA selections. The Phoenix Suns selected Davis with the No. 5 pick in the 1977 NBA Draft.
The North Carolina product spent his first 11 seasons with the Suns before spending just over three years with the Nuggets. Davis had a quick detour to the Trail Blazers for 32 games during the 1990-91 season before returning to Denver to retire with the Nuggets in 1992.
Required reading
(Photo: Mitchell Layton / Getty Images)
