Five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant headed a star-studded list of honorees named to basketball’s 2020 Hall of Fame on Saturday.
The Los Angeles
Lakers icon, who died in a helicopter crash in January, was named alongside
nine honorees who will be enshrined at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of
Fame on August 29.
Joining Bryant in
the sport’s pantheon are three-time NBA Finals MVP Tim Duncan, 15-time NBA
All-Star Kevin Garnett, two-time NBA champion coach Rudy Tomjanovich and
four-time Olympic medallist Tamika Catchings.
Other inductees
include three-time NCAA National Championship coach Kim Mulkey, college
basketball coach Barbara Stevens and longtime FIBA executive Patrick Baumann,
who died of a heart attack in 2018 at the age of 41.
“The Class of 2020
is undoubtedly one of the most historic of all time and the talent and social
influence of these nine honorees is beyond measure,” said John Doleva, chief
executive of the Hall of Fame.
“In 2020, the
basketball community has suffered the unimaginable loss of iconic figures Commissioner
David Stern and Kobe Bryant, as well as the game itself due to COVID-19.
“We have also
banded together like never before in appreciation of the game and those who
have made it the uniting force it is today.”
The basketball
world was left stunned by Bryant’s death earlier this year, with the crash also
claiming the life of his daughter Gianna and seven others.
The NBA season has
also been left in disarray by the coronavirus pandemic, with the campaign
halted indefinitely last month and the league currently on hiatus.
Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, told ESPN her late husband’s posthumous elevation to the Hall of Fame ranked as one of his greatest career milestones.
“It’s an incredible
accomplishment and honor, and we’re extremely proud of him,” Vanessa Bryant
said.
“Every
accomplishment that he had as an athlete was a steppingstone to be here,” she
added.
Lakers team owner
Jeanie Buss saluted Bryant in a statement that praised the star’s fierce
competitiveness, work ethic and drive.”
“Those qualities helped
Kobe lead us to five titles—and have now brought him to the Hall of Fame, where
he will be enshrined with the greatest to have ever played the game,” Buss
said.
“No one deserves it
more.”