UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has boasted an array of deep classes since honoring its inaugural one in 1959.
Though he’s admittedly biased, 2025 inductee Dwight Howard believes there’s an argument that the five individual players being inducted this year on the men’s and women’s side could be one of the best collective groups ever.
Howard will be joined in this year’s class by Carmelo Anthony, who with Howard will also be honored on Saturday night along with the
2008 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team they played on that became known as the “ Redeem Team,” after winning gold at the Beijing Games that summer. They’ll share the stage with WNBA legends Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles.
“You put us together, you put all of us out of one team, how you going to stop us?” Howard said Friday.
Combined, the quintet of players going in as individuals – Bird, Moore, Fowles, Howard and Anthony – were part of 11 WNBA or NBA championship teams, captured 15 Olympic gold medals, made 37 All-NBA or All-WNBA appearances and were named as All-Stars 45 times in their careers.
Others being inducted in Saturday's ceremony will be Chicago Bulls coach and two-time NCAA champion Billy Donovan, Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison and longtime NBA referee Danny Crawford.
The fact that Moore, Bird and Fowles are entering the Hall together is apropos.
First, it will mark the first time three WNBA players will enter the Hall of Fame in the same year. They are also connected in other ways.
Moore and Bird ended their college careers at UConn with two NCAA titles apiece. Fowles was also instrumental in the final two of Moore’s four WNBA championships with the Minnesota Lynx.
Being in Connecticut to receive their official Hall of Fame jackets and rings on Friday was also symbolic for Bird and Moore.
“I was looking at, and I was like, ‘I think I’m picking UConn,’” Bird said. “It’s like, Maya, Diana (Taurasi), myself, Stewie (Breanna Stewart), Rebecca Lobo. That’s a pretty good starting five.”
For Anthony, who never won an NBA title but earned three Olympic gold medals, a place in the Hall is the latest in a string of accomplishments during his career that he said were unimaginable when he first burst on the national scene as a 19-year-old college freshman, leading Syracuse to the NCAA championship in 2003.
Anthony said he hopes his lasting basketball legacy is that of a player who played with “grace” and “competitiveness.” And with something the three-time Olympic gold medal winner has in common with Frank Sinatra.
“I did it my way,” Anthony said. “I did it the way that a lot of people didn’t agree with. I did it a way that I went against the grain a lot of times. Not disrespectfully, but just I have my own visions. I have my own ways of doing things. I have my own ways of approaching the game."
While this weekend has brought back a lot of memories about her basketball exploits, Moore, who retired before the 2019 WNBA season to focus endeavors like social justice issues and helping overturn the wrongful conviction of her now-husband, Jonathan Irons, said she’s also preoccupied with other things these days.
“The next challenge for me is fully potty training with (3-year-old son Jonathan Jr.),” she joked. “He had his, you know first successful poo poo, in the potty recently. It’s just like, that’s championship level joy”.
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