Candace Parker, Blake Griffin among finalists for 2026 Basketball Hall of Fame class

Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne, both former WNBA MVPs and champions, headline the finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2026 announced Wednesday.

Parker is the only player in WNBA history to win championships with three franchises (the Los Angeles Sparks, Chicago Sky and Las Vegas Aces). One of the first true positionless basketball players, Parker was a phenom at every level — winning the dunk contest at the McDonald’s All American Game in high school, two national championships at Tennessee, two Olympic Gold medals and two WNBA MVP awards.

She’s still the only player in WNBA history to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season (2008).

Delle Donne is also a two-time league MVP (2015 and 2019) who became the first WNBA player to shoot 50% from the field, 40% from 3 and 90% on free throws. She led the Washington Mystics to their first championship in 2019, cementing her legacy as one of the greatest pure shooters the game has seen.

Two members of the LA Clippers’ “Lob City” era were also named as finalists. Six-time All-Star Blake Griffin turned around the fortunes of the beleaguered franchise with an electric, high-flying style, punctuated by his win in the 2011 slam dunk contest in which he jumped over a Kia automobile.

Griffin grew into a far more complete player over his 14 seasons in the league, finishing his career with more than 14,000 points and 3,000 assists.

Doc Rivers, who coached many of those Lob City teams, was also selected as a finalist. Rivers, whose 1,114 (and counting) career coaching wins rank eighth on the all-time list, led the Boston Celtics to an NBA championship in 2008. He is the current coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.

A’mare Stoudemire is a finalist again. Stoudemire averaged 18.9 points and 7.8 rebounds in 846 career games over 14 seasons for Phoenix, New York, Dallas and Miami, the first eight of which were for the Suns.

The 6-foot-10 forward/center was a six-time All-Star and an All-NBA first-team selection in 2006-07, forming one-half of a formidable pick-and-roll duo in Phoenix with point guard Steve Nash.

Stoudemire was also named the 2003 NBA Rookie of the Year after entering the league directly from high school.

Other player finalists include Kevin Johnson, Buck Williams and Marques Johnson. Official Joey Crawford is a finalist, as is Tal Brody, who helped shape Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball, and Mike D’Antoni, in the contributor category.

Other coaches besides Rivers include Gonzaga’s Mark Few, Houston’s Kelvin Sampson and the late Jerry Welsh, who coached Potsdam in upstate New York to NCAA Division III titles in 1981 and 1986. They’re joined by legendary high school basketball coach Gary McKnight and Dick Motta, one of the winningest coaches in NBA history.

The 1996 gold medal-winning U.S. women’s national team will also be considered for induction, as will Jennifer Azzi, who was a member of that Atlanta Games team and is a finalist again as an individual. Accompanying her as a women’s committee finalist is Chamique Holdsclaw.

Molly Bolin-Kazmerm, the first player signed by the Women’s Professional Basketball League, is a returning finalist nominated by the women’s veterans committee.

Former Serbian professional player and longtime coach Dušan Ivković, already a FIBA Hall of Famer, is once again a finalist from the international committee.

The final Class of 2026 will be announced during the NCAA Final Four weekend in April, with the formal enshrinement ceremonies scheduled for August in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.