Everything You Need to Know About the 2020 Basketball Hall of Fame Induction

On May 15, 2021, a total of nine honorees in the Class of 2020 were presented as the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The induction took place in Springfield, Massachusetts, the birthplace of basketball.

 

The Class of 2020 includes Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Eddie Sutton, Rudy Tomjanovich, Tamika Catchings, Kim Mulkey, Barbara Stevens, and Patrick Baumann. To be elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, honorees must have received 18 of 24 votes from the Honors Committee.

 

Consisted of both players and coaches, the Class of 2020 is considered one of the most star-studded of all time, led by Kobe Bryant and other NBA all-time legends, most notably Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan.

 

“There has not been a better Big Three to go in at the same time,” tweeted LeBron James, a star player for the Los Angeles Lakers.

 

“The Class of 2020 is undoubtedly one of the most historic of all time, and the talent and social influence of these nine honorees is beyond measure,” said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

 

“All nine people in the Class of 2020 truly deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, but I am especially happy for [Kobe Bryant] to finally be an official Hall of Famer,” commented Alex Kim, a junior at AISG. “I would have loved to see him enshrined in person, but seeing his family do it instead was truly heartwarming.

 

Although the night was to appreciate all nine of the honorees, the event’s focus was understandably on Kobe Bryant, who passed away along with his daughter, Gianna Bryant, and seven others in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020.

 

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball’s most complete library, in addition to promoting and preserving the history of basketball.