NBA: Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Gasol, Dwyane Wade highlight 2023 class of Hall of Fame finalists list

Paul Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, and Dwyane Wade highlighted the list of finalists for the 2023 class of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Friday before the start of the festivities of NBA All-Star Weekend. Among the class, Wade, who captained the Team Dwyane Wade to All-Star Celebrity Game later on against Team Ryan, won three championships with Miami Heat and was the NBA Finals MVP in 2006. Wade is also 13-time All-Star and won an Olympic medal for USA Basketball in 2008. Among others named in the list are 2007 Finals MVP Tony Parker, Becky Hammon – six-time WNBA All-Star, and Jennifer Azzi – a national champion with Stanford College and 5-year WNBA veteran along with an Olympic gold medalist for USA Basketball in 1996.

Speaking to the press conference, Jerry Colangelo, chairman for Hall of Fame, said, “I love the class. I think this is a loaded class. … I think this is unique in that we have a lot of first-time people and it’s unusual when somebody makes it on the first ballot. But this is going to be that unique of class. Because there could be four or five first-timers. So, I’m very excited about it.”

Talking about other in the class, Dirk Nowitzki, with 31,500 point is No. 6 on the NBA’s all-time scoring and was named league MVP in 2007. Nowitzki also won a championship with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011 and was named the Finals MVP as well. Paul Gasol 

has also won two titles with the Los Angeles Lakers alongside Kobe Bryant. Gasol is also a six-time All-Star and two-time Olympic silver medalist, however, for Spain. 

Coming to Gregg Popovich, the winningest coach in the NBA history, has five NBA titles with San Antonio Spurs. The ones who’ll actually be inducted in the class in an August ceremony in Springfield, Massachusetts, will be announced during the NCAA college basketball Final Four celebration in April in Houston.

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