{"id":469217,"date":"2026-02-12T01:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T01:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/469217\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T01:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T01:41:08","slug":"parker-griffin-among-finalists-for-2026-naismith-basketball-hall-of-fame-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/469217\/","title":{"rendered":"Parker, Griffin among finalists for 2026 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The WNBA&#8217;s ace and a member of the &#8220;Lob City&#8221; Los Angeles Clippers could be on their way to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n<p>Candace Parker and Blake Griffin were among the first-time nominees who could potentially be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, according to an announcement from the Hall via social media on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Mike D&#8217;Antoni, Doc Rivers, Amar&#8217;e Stoudamire, Jamal Crawford, Joe Johnson and Elena Delle Donne were also among the notable finalists. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The candidates for the class of 2026 have each left an indelible impact on the game of basketball,&#8221; Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame president and CEO John L. Doleva\u00a0said\u00a0in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Through defining performances, influential leadership, and achievements that helped elevate the sport on the national and international stage, this year&#8217;s ballot recognizes those whose legacy continues to shape how the game is played, coached, and celebrated.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Parker was drafted first overall in the 2008 WNBA draft by the Los Angeles Sparks and won both Rookie of the Year and MVP in her first season.<\/p>\n<p>She added a second MVP, was a seven-time all-star, 10-time All-WNBA selection, and two-time WNBA All-Defensive second-team member over her career.<\/p>\n<p>Griffin was also a No. 1 pick by the Clippers in 2009, and his remarkable athleticism as a big man propelled the Clippers to the highlight reels and six consecutive playoff appearances.<\/p>\n<p>The 36-year-old now serves as an analyst for the NBA on Prime Video, and finished his career with per-game averages of 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists, to go along with six all-star appearances and five All-NBA honours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The WNBA&#8217;s ace and a member of the &#8220;Lob City&#8221; Los Angeles Clippers could be on their way&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-469217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}