Kevin Pelton, ESPN Senior Writer Oct 12, 2024, 8:00am ET
Co-author, Pro Basketball Prospectus Series, former Indiana Pacers consultant, developed the WARP rating and SCHOENE system
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame welcomes its newest inductees, with former basketball stars Vince Carter and Chauncey Billups leading the 13-member class.
The Class of 2024 also includes Los Angeles Lakers legends Jerry West and Michael Cooper. West would become the first person to be inducted three times, with the latter being elected as a contributor to the game.
Editor’s Picks
2 related
The 2025 class of inductees will be announced in April at the NCAA Division I Final Four in San Antonio, but with no newly eligible Hall of Famers next year, let’s also take a look at past candidates on the ballot who might make it. .
As for the 2026 class, there will be at least one potential first-time selection when Carmelo Anthony is on the ballot. LaMarcus Aldridge has an interesting case for 2026, as does former Brooklyn Nets teammate Blake Griffin for the 2027 class.
Viewing Hall of Fame inductees isn’t always easy due to a lack of transparency in the process that — as ESPN’s Baxter Holmes previously explained — is conducted by committees with unknown members behind closed doors. However, we will do our best to determine who may receive the call soon.
Looking ahead to next year and beyond, let’s think about which former NBA players will be on the ballot four years after their retirement as we anticipate the classes in 2025, 2026 and 2027.
Newly qualified in 2025
no one
The best player to retire from the NBA after the 2020-21 season is Marc Gasol, although he continued to play in Spain for the club he founded, Basket Girona, until this January. The Hall has been inconsistent in how it handles such appearances in terms of its eligibility timeline, but I don’t think Gasol will be on the ballot until 2028. His brother Pau Gasol is inducted in 2023.
New Lakers coach JJ Redick is the next best candidate. Without an All-Star appearance or title, Reddick’s candidacy will depend largely on his accomplishments as a college player at Duke.
Carmelo Anthony will receive a Hall of Fame nod once he becomes eligible in 2026. AP Photo/Mary Altaffer Newly eligible in 20261. Carmelo Anthony
Former NBA stars Vince Carter and Chauncey Billups headline the 13-member class, which also includes Lakers legends Michael Cooper and Jerry West — the first person to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player and contributor.
• Minnesota was a turning point for Billups
• Vince Carter’s Hall of Fame moments
• Cooper gets the nod as a defensive legend
• Jerry West’s 20-year feud with the Lakers
The only retired member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team who has not yet been selected for the Hall of Fame, Anthony will join the rest of that group once he becomes eligible. Anthony retired ninth in career scoring with 28,289 points and was a 10-time All-Star, in addition to making six NBA appearances.
2. LaMarcus Aldridge
Is Aldridge’s career worthy of a first-ballot pick? Whether it’s 2026 or later, Aldridge is sure to make it happen thanks to checking the boxes in terms of accolades (seven All-Star appearances and five NBA selections) and career scoring (20,558 points). Although scoring at least 20,000 points no longer guarantees selection, every eligible player who has scored more than Aldridge is in the Hall.
Newly qualified in 20271. Blake Griffin
The No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft would be an interesting case for the Hall of Famer. His accolades — six All-Star appearances and five All-NBA seasons (three Second Team nods and two Third Team nods) — would normally merit selection, but Griffin’s tenure was shortened by injuries. He played just 765 games and finished with less than 15,000 points in his career. When you add in Griffin’s impact as a college star at Oklahoma and the 2011 Slam Dunk Contest champion, I think it pushes his candidacy over the top.
2. Andre Iguodala
If Michael Cooper can make it to the Hall of Fame thanks to winning five NBA championships and making the All-Defensive Team eight times without being an All-Star, Iguodala should be an easy choice to add to the ballot. Iguodala appeared in one All-Star game (and only twice as a defensive back), but advanced statistics indicated he was among the best defenders in the league and was underrated as a star. Add to that Iguodala’s role in the Golden State Warriors’ four titles, including a Finals MVP win in 2015, and I like his prospects.
Andre Iguodala was part of a Warriors dynasty that won four NBA titles. Bob Doonan/USA Today Sports 3. John Wall
On an ESPN broadcast during the NBA Summer League, Wall said he still hopes to return to the NBA after playing his final 34 games with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2022-23. Assuming the return never comes to fruition, Wall would be another No. 1 pick with a strong peak (five All-Star appearances) whose prime was interrupted by injuries. Wall played just 647 games, 118 fewer than Griffin, and made just one All-NBA team. I think it’s unlikely he will.
Retained candidates
Given the way the Hall of Fame works, it makes sense to look at finalists who haven’t made it in recent years to see which eligible players have a chance to fill future classes. Remarkably, only one NBA player to have reached this stage in the past 15 years has not yet been selected: Kevin Johnson, the last to reach the final in 2016.
1. Marquis Johnson
Johnson has been a finalist three of the past six years, and with no potential first-round picks, it looks like 2025 could be his year. Johnson’s career totals were limited by injury, but he was a five-time All-Star and was also a legend at UCLA, where he helped John Wooden to its final championship in 1975 and later won the National Player of the Year award in 1977.
2. Amare Stoudemire
Like Griffin, whose career has been remarkably similar, Stoudemire is on the borderline. He also had six All-Star appearances and five All-NBA selections, but the long-term impact of knee microfracture surgery also shortened Stoudemire’s tenure. He finished the season with 15,994 points, a total that ranks 128th in league history. I’m betting Stoudemire will make it, but he wasn’t among the candidates this cycle in what appears to be his first year of eligibility.
3. Joe Johnson
Although Johnson has not yet been nominated, as you may have noted during his playing career, his resume is more typical of a Hall of Famer than you might think. Every eligible player who has made at least seven All-Star appearances in the modern era has made it, as have nearly all players with at least 20,000 career points (Tom Chambers and Antawn Jamison, the two players who have cleared the bar with fewer than Johnson, are the exceptions.) At some point as scoring proliferates, we may have to reconsider the 20,000 mark as a Hall of Fame benchmark, but given Johnson’s broad career similarity to Hall of Famer Mitch Richmond (six All-Star appearances, 90 fewer career points), I think it’s ” We will achieve it in the end.
Who else should the Hall consider? Shawn Marion
To date, Steve Nash is the only member of the “Seven Seconds or Less” Phoenix Suns featuring Marion and Stoudemire to reach the Hall. I tend to favor Marion, who had a longer career and was ranked better than Stoudemire by advanced stats when they played together in Phoenix, but a greater emphasis on accolades would favor Stoudemire. Add in Joe Johnson and it’s interesting that three of the six players I listed were teammates on the 2004-05 Suns.
2. Horace Grant
If the Hall wants to reward a defensive-minded player on championship teams, I think Grant is a better option than rookie Michael Cooper. He was an All-Star once, in 1993-94, and his career might have been viewed differently if there had been more emphasis on efficient scoring during Grant’s heyday. According to Basketball-Reference.com, Grant’s 118 career wins rank second among non-Hall eligible players behind Buck Williams (120).
Horace Grant has four NBA championship rings, including three with the Chicago Bulls. AP Photo/Jim Moon3. Jimmy Jones
The Hall has done well recently to expand its ABA representation by inducting Indiana Pacers teammates Roger Brown (2013), Mel Daniels (2012) and George McGuinness (2017). That leaves Jones as the ABA’s most deserving remaining candidate. A six-time All-Star and three-time All-ABA team selection, he was also added to the ABA All-Time Team. However, it was difficult to overlook Jones’ short post-ABA career with the Washington Bullets and his lack of an ABA title (his team lost in the ABA Finals in 1968 and 1974).
