WNBA: Seimone Augustus, Michelle Timms are headed into the Hall of Fame

Two of the coolest players in women’s basketball history will enter the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday, Oct. 13: Michelle Timms and Seimone Augustus

In a sport that long tended to encourage conformity, Timms and Augustus were ahead of their time in offering unique, individual brands. With short, spiky bleached-blonde hair, Timms intrigued as a member of the inaugural class of WNBA players in 1997, arriving as an already-established Australian great who quickly became the face of the Phoenix Mercury. From the time she was on the cover of Sports Illustrated from Women at age 14 in 1999, Augustus exuded effortless cool, and, with her dreadlocked and headband style, would continue to do so as she suited up for the LSU Tigers and Minnesota Lynx.

And while their vibes are not why Timms and Augustus are being honored, their personas did extend into their playing styles, shaping their Hall-of-Fame-worthy impact on the sport. Here’s more on why Timms and Augustus on headed into basketball’s most hallowed Hall:

Michelle Timms inaugurated Australia’s WNBA influence

Michelle Timms’ Hall of Fame resume begins and extends beyond the borders of the WNBA.

In 1984, at age 19, she debuted in the WNBL for the Bulleen Boomers, beginning a professional basketball career that would span 15 years and multiple continents. She would become a five-time WNBL champion (1986-89, 1992), serving as captain of the 1992 Perth Breakers team that captured the WNBL crown. She was a seven-time WNBL All-Star and two-time WNBL Player of the Year (1995, 1996). Concurrently, Timms was establishing herself as a mainstay for the Australian Women’s National Basketball Team, with the 1986 World Championships serving as her first major international tournament with the Opals. She subsequently would compete in three more World Championships and three Olympic Games. Timms and the Aussies won bronze at the 1996 and 2000 Games; they also finished third at the 1988 World Championships.

Her international accomplishments, which also included short stints playing in Germany and Italy, made her one of the initial players allocated to a WNBA team in 1997, with Timms assigned to the Phoenix Mercury. 32 years old for the WNBA’s inaugural season, Timms helped the Mercury finished first in the Western Conference, averaging 12.1 points, 5.0 assists and 2.6 steals as she played nearly 36 minutes per game. In 1998, Timms and the Mercury reached the WNBA Finals, stealing the first game of the WNBA Finals off the eventual champion Houston Comets. In Game 2, Timms busted out her highest-scoring effort of the season, and of her playoff career, leading the Mercury with 21 points. At the end of regulation, Timms missed a 3-pointer that would have won the game, and the title, for Phoenix.

Throughout her remaining three seasons in the WNBA, Timms would see a reduced minute and scoring load, although, in 1999, she was an inaugural WNBA All-Star, posting averages of 6.8 points and 5.0 assists. After injury limited her to eight games in 2000, she returned for a final season in 2001.

More than her play in the league, Timms’ presence in the WNBA helped establish it as a global league, where not just the best women’s basketball players in the United States, but from around the world, would ply their trade. More particularly, she also introduced the importance of Australian players to league and its growth, a genealogy that continues into the present with the likes of the Minnesota Lynx’s Alanna Smith, Seattle Storm’s Ezi Magbegor and Washington Mystics’ Jade Melbourne.

Seimone Augustus was a sweet scorer and certified winner

If there’s something that can be done in women’s basketball, it’s safe to say that Seimone Augustus has probably done it.

As a collegian, she steered LSU to three-straight Final Fours (2004-06), collecting a cache of individual awards along the way, including twice sweeping national player of the year honors (2005, 2006). Across her four years in Baton Rouge (2003-06), she averaged 19.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. She, unquestionably, was the No. 1 pick in the 2006 WNBA Draft, the savior of a thus far wayward Minnesota Lynx franchise. In her first season in Minnesota, the Lynx still struggled, but Augustus was fantastic, with her silky handles, smooth jumper and superb scoring package instantly translating to the WNBA as she averaged almost 22 points per game, winning Rookie of the Year, earning the first of eight All-Star honors and being named to an All-WNBA Team for the first of six times.

After five seasons as the sole star for slowly improving Lynx squads, Augustus finally got some help in 2011, with the arrivals of Lindsay Whalen and Maya Moore. Minnesota quickly would become one of the league’s best teams, winning the first of four championships (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017), with Augustus taking Finals MVP honors. Game 2 of the Lynx’s three-game sweep of the Atlanta Dream was Augustus’ masterpiece, when she scored a playoff career-high 36 points, going 11-for-14 from the field and sinking 13-of-16 free throws. She also had eight boards and three assists in the Lynx’s 101-95 victory.

Along with serving as the foundational piece for the dynastic Lynx, Augustus was a fixture for the even more dominant USA Basketball Women’s National Team, winning gold with Team USA at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Augustus’ winning ways also extended further overseas, as she spent 10 WNBA offseasons playing in Russia and Turkey. Suiting up for Galatasaray in 2008 and 2009, she won a pair of EuroCup Women titles, also taking the EuroCup MVP in 2009.

As a second-generation WNBA player, Augustus had access to a more wide-open women’s basketball world, where one confidently could know that collegiate success could translate into a successful professional career, both domestically and internationally. Augustus not only took full advantage of this opportunity, but she excelled whenever and wherever she hooped. And by doing so, she helped expand the sport’s boundaries, not just geographically but culturally, with her individual skill, team successes and overall style contributing to the conditions that have allowed for the game’s recent, rapid growth.