UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) 鈥� Dawn Staley and the 1996 Olympic women’s basketball team paved the way for the WNBA and players such as Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne and Chamique Holdsclaw.
The team that started the Americans’ 30-year Olympic dominance will be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday along with Parker, Delle Donne and Holdsclaw They will be joined by NBA player Amar鈥檈 Stoudemire, longtime , NBA coaches and Mike D鈥橝ntoni and Gonzaga coach Mark Few in the Hall of Fame.
鈥淚t’s taken a long time for that particular team that set the stage for everything that’s happened since,鈥� Staley said. 鈥淭here were players that came before us that didn’t strike while the iron was hot. I thought we struck when the iron was hot and provided a way for us to see professional basketball come into existence after. Then for the last 30 years we’ve had it. 鈥�
Parker and Delle Donne were young, but remembered that Olympic team and its importance.
鈥淭he ’96 (team) inspired an entire generation of women,鈥� Parker said. 鈥淭hey were the catalyst for all of women’s sports to me and professional leagues to go around for an entire year, commit and understand that it鈥檚 like gold or nothing and for them to come away with the gold in the fashion they did with the great amount of eyeballs.”
It’s the second consecutive year that a stellar class of women will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame as Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles were inducted in 2025. Parker won three titles in the WNBA with three different teams: Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas. She is the only player in league history to win both the MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season.
She also won two titles while playing in college for Tennessee under Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt, plus two Olympic gold medals and two WNBA MVP awards.
Delle Donne won two league MVP awards in 2015 and 2019, the second of which came when she led the Washington Mystics to their lone WNBA championship. Delle Donne became the first player in league history to shoot more than 50% from the field, 40% from behind the 3-point line and 90% from the free-throw line.
Holdsclaw won three straight titles at Tennessee from 1996-98, the first team to accomplish that. The 1998 championship was Tennessee鈥檚 first undefeated season at 39鈥�0 and the Vols also set an NCAA record for the most wins in a season. Holdsclaw went on to have an 11-year WNBA career.
Crawford鈥檚 numbers were incredible: He officiated more than 2,500 regular-season games, nearly 400 more in the postseason and 50 of those were in the NBA Finals during his 39-year career.
Rivers won 1,194 regular-season games as an NBA coach, which is the sixth most in league history. He also led the Celtics to a championship in 2008.
Stoudemire, who was the only NBA player in this year鈥檚 class, was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2003 and six-time All-Star. He spent the first eight years of his career with the Phoenix Suns, where he teamed with D鈥橝ntoni.
Few has won more than 770 games at Gonzaga in his career at the school. He set the NCAA Division I men鈥檚 coaching record by winning 81 games in his first three years with the Zags.
Celtics reunion
Rivers believes his last great coaching feat was to get Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce to present him at the Hall of Fame ceremony Saturday night. The trio led Boston to the 2008 championship that Rivers coached. Garnett and Allen had issues when the sharpshooter left in 2012 to join LeBron James in Miami. They officially made up in 2022 at Garnett’s jersey retirement ceremony which Allen attended.
鈥淭hose three in particular have had their ups and downs now and the fact that all three agreed to be together on the stage is just absolutely amazing,鈥� Rivers said. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 hard. That鈥檚 what was so shocking. it wasn鈥檛 hard. All three of them immediately, and I called separately they all were quick to be at it.鈥�
Missing Pat
Holdsclaw and Parker both know that their Hall of Fame coach from Tennessee is smiling down on them as the pair of Lady Vols greats will get inducted together. Summitt passed away in 2016 following a battle with Alzheimer鈥檚.
“I think Coach definitely wrote this in the stars for us to go in, in the same class,” Parker said. 鈥淪o I think she definitely will be around. I know she would be on stage.鈥�
Holdsclaw agreed with Parker on her former mentor.
鈥淪he would be so proud of us,鈥� Holdsclaw said.
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