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Four iconic celebrity fans of the NBA are set to be added to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s James F. Goldstein SuperFan Gallery on Oct. 13.
According to Marc J. Spears of ESPN’s Andscape, the Basketball Hall of Fame announced Friday that director Spike Lee, actor Jack Nicholson, actor Billy Crystal and businessman Alan Horwitz will be included in the exhibit, which has celebrated the NBA’s most recognizable fans since 2021.
The gallery is named after businessman and longtime NBA fan Jimmy Goldstein, who has regularly attended Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers games for decades.
Per Spears, the addition of Lee, Nicholson, Crystal and Horwitz will be part of the Basketball Hall of Fame’s SuperFan Celebration this month.
Lee, Nicholson, Crystal and Horwitz are all longtime basketball fans who have become synonymous with the teams they root for.
There is perhaps no more famous NBA fan than Lee, as the Academy Award winner is seemingly always courtside for New York Knicks games at Madison Square Garden.
The same can be said for the three-time Academy Award winner in Nicholson, who is constantly on hand to root on his Lakers.
Crystal is perhaps best known for his love of baseball and the New York Yankees, but he is also a Clippers fan and has held season tickets for the franchise for many years.
Horwitz is a Philadelphia native who has regularly attended Philadelphia 76ers games since the 1960s. He is affectionately referred to as the “Sixth Man,” and he can always be seen wearing a jersey with the No. 76 and a “Sixth Man” nameplate.
When the James F. Goldstein SuperFan Gallery was established in 2021, it honored Goldstein, Lakers fan Penny Marshall and Toronto Raptors fan Nav Bhatia, all of whom had personal items on display.
The SuperFan Celebration will take place the same weekend as the 2024 Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony when Chauncey Billups, Vince Carter and several other notable names are enshrined.
