Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker named Hall of Fame finalists / News - Basketnews.com

Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Dwyane Wade, and Gregg Popovich headline the 2023 Hall of Fame class.

Credit: AFP - Scanpix Credit AFP - Scanpix

With the NBA All-Star Weekend underway, the finalists of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame were announced.

Tony Parker

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Three international icons have been included in the final list with Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, and Tony Parker getting selected.

Additionally, Parker's long-time coach Gregg Popovich and three-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade are among the finalists as well.

Popovich's former assistant and current Las Vegas Aces head coach in the WNBA, Becky Hammon has been selected by the Women's Committee to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

"I love the class," Hall of Fame's chairman Jerry Colangelo said. "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."

"I didn't care about scoring points, I just cared about making the right play," Gasol said following the news.

North American Committee Finalists:

Gene Bess – All-time winningest college coach (1,300) Pau Gasol – 6-time All-Star, 2-time NBA champion, 2002 Rookie of the Year David Hixon – 826 wins, 2-time D3 national champion, 2-time D3 Coach of the Year Gene Keady – 7-time Big Ten Coach of the Year Dirk Nowitzki – 14-time All-Star, 2006-07 MVP, 2011 NBA Champion Tony Parker – 6-time All-Star, 4-time NBA champion, 2007 Finals MVP Gregg Popovich – Winningest coach in NBA history, 5-time NBA champion, Olympic gold medalist with the US national team in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 Dwyane Wade – 13-time All-Star, 3-time NBA champion, 2006 Finals MVP

Women's Committee Finalists:

Jennifer Azzi – 1990 Naismith Player of the Year, 1990 national champion Gary Blair – 852 wins, 2011 national champion Becky Hammon – 6-time WNBA All-Star Marian Washington – 560 wins, 11 NCAA apps. Thank you for reading us! Help us even more.