Blake Griffin and Candace Parker join first-time Hall of Fame nominees list

Blake Griffin, Candace Parker and Jamal Crawford are connected the ballot for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for the archetypal time, joining a wide-ranging database of astir 200 nominees that blends NBA stars, WNBA icons, coaches, contributors and historical teams.

The Hall announced the candidates Friday connected ESPN’s NBA Live show, mounting the signifier for the people of 2026 enactment process that volition play retired crossed the adjacent respective months.

First-time names bring prima powerfulness to the ballot

Griffin, Parker and Crawford header a first-time radical that besides includes the 1996 U.S. Olympic women’s hoops team, longtime manager Bruce Pearl and seasoned assemblage manager Kelvin Sampson. Elena Delle Donne and Joe Johnson are first-time nominees arsenic players, portion Mike D’Antoni appears arsenic a contributor.

Hall president and CEO John L. Doleva framed the database arsenic a snapshot of the game’s reach. “The candidates for the people of 2026 person each near an indelible interaction connected the crippled of basketball,” Doleva said. “Through defining performances, influential enactment and achievements that helped elevate the athletics connected the nationalist and planetary stage, this year's ballot recognizes those whose bequest continues to signifier however the crippled is played, coached, and celebrated.”

Familiar finalists get different chance

The ballot besides includes respective holdovers who fell abbreviated successful the people of 2025. Jennifer Azzi is backmost again, this clip arsenic an idiosyncratic nominee, aft antecedently appearing successful transportation with the 1996 Olympic squad that won golden astatine the Atlanta Games.

Other returning nominees see Gonzaga manager Mark Few, NBA veterans Marques Johnson and Buck Williams, and Jerry Welsh, who coached Potsdam to NCAA Division III titles successful 1981 and 1986. Molly Bolin, the archetypal subordinate signed by the Women’s Professional Basketball League, is back, arsenic is Serbian subordinate and longtime manager Dusan Ivkovic, already a FIBA Hall of Famer. Doc Rivers, Amar’e Stoudemire and broadcaster Marv Albert are nominees again arsenic well.

Finalists are typically announced astatine NBA All-Star play successful February. The people volition beryllium revealed April 4 astatine the NCAA Final Four, with enshrinement Aug. 14 and 15 astatine Mohegan Sun successful Uncasville, Connecticut, and astatine Symphony Hall successful Springfield, Massachusetts.