Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki and coach Gregg Popovich are among the finalists elected into a starry Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2023, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.
International stars Pau Gasol and Tony Parker and WNBA legend Becky Hammon also have been voted into the 2023 class, sources said.
A formal announcement on the full Class of 2023 will come Saturday at the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four in Houston.
Wade won three championships with the Miami Heat and was NBA Finals MVP in 2006, a 13-time All-Star and an Olympic gold medalist for USA Basketball in 2008. Nowitzki is No. 6 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with 31,550 points, and he was named league MVP in 2007 and won a championship with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011, when he was named Finals MVP.
Gasol won two championships with the Los Angeles Lakers alongside Kobe Bryant and was a six-time All-Star and two-time Olympic silver medalist for Spain.
Popovich is the NBA’s all-time leader in coaching wins, and he guided the San Antonio Spurs to five championships. Hammon was a six-time All-Star in her WNBA career and coached the Las Vegas Aces to an WNBA championship this past summer in her first season with the team.
The enshrinement in Springfield, Massachusetts, is scheduled for Aug. 12.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin contributed to this story.
Source:ESPN
