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Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2024 enshrined

Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2024 enshrined

Chauncey Billups and Vince Carter were among those inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Sunday evening.

Billups and Carter led a 2024 class that included 13 inductees, seven of whom were inducted into the Hall of Fame as players. Both Billups and Carter were members of this group, which also included Michael Cooper, Walter Davis, Seimone Augustus, Dick Barnett and Michele Timms.

Bo Ryan, Charles Smith and Harley Redin joined the 2024 class as coaches, while Doug Collins, Herb Simon and Jerry West were selected as contributors.

West, who died in June at age 86, had already landed in the Hall of Fame as a player and Olympian. He is the first to be inducted into Springfield three times.

Billups, 48, spent 17 seasons in the NBA, appearing in 1,043 games (937 starts) for the Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers, Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks.

A five-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA selection and 2004 Finals MVP, Billups posted career averages of 15.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists. He is currently the coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, a role he has held since the 2021–22 season.

Carter, 47, played for eight teams in his 22 NBA seasons and averaged 16.7 points, 4.3 points and 3.1 assists in 1,541 games (982 starts). During his time with the Raptors, he was named Rookie of the Year at the end of the 1998-99 season and subsequently earned eight All-Star selections.

Cooper, 68, was known for his defensive skills with the “Showtime” Lakers. He spent all 12 of his NBA seasons in Los Angeles, where he was on five championship teams. Cooper was selected All-Defensive eight times and was named Defensive Player of the Year for the 1986–87 season.

The 1978 Rookie of the Year, Davis, who was 69 when he died in November 2023, played 11 of his 15 NBA seasons with the Phoenix Suns. He also spent time with the Nuggets and Blazers, averaging 18.9 points in a total of 1,033 games (373 starts).

Davis was a six-time All-Star.

Barnett, 88, had a 14-year career with the Knicks, Lakers and Syracuse Nationals. He was a two-time NBA champion who averaged 15.8 points per game in his career.

Augustus, 40, averaged 15.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game during his 15-year WNBA career with the Minnesota Lynx (2006-19) and Los Angeles Sparks (2020). After being named Rookie of the Year in 2006, she won four titles, including one in 2011 when she was named Finals MVP.

Although the 59-year-old Timms also played at a high level in the WNBA, earning an All-Star selection during her five seasons with the Phoenix Mercury, she made more of a splash on the global basketball scene.

Before Timms, who helped her home country to a bronze medal at the 1996 Olympics and a silver medal at the 2000 Games, no Australian, man or woman, had ever played professional basketball internationally.

Ryan was a college coach for 32 seasons, with stops at Wisconsin-Platteville, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Wisconsin. The 76-year-old was named Big Ten Coach of the Year four times and the Badgers reached the Final Four twice under his leadership.

Overall, Ryan had a record of 747-233.

Smith, 75, won nine state championships as a high school coach in Louisiana. He is the state’s winningest coach at this level.

Redin coached both the Wayland Baptist University men’s and women’s teams and won six Amateur Athletic Union tournament titles. He was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999 and died in 2020 at the age of 100.

Collins, 73, was a four-time All-Star as a player, had a 442-407 record as coach of the Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards, Philadelphia 76ers and Pistons and had a career in broadcasting.

Simon, 89, is the owner of the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever. He and his brother bought the Pacers in 1983.

West, a 14-time All-Star, 12-time All-NBA selection and the league’s leading scorer in 1970, first landed in the Hall of Fame as a player in 1980 and returned there in 2010 as a member of the U.S. Olympic team, who won gold at the Summer Olympics.

West was a part of the Lakers’ nine championships – one as a player and eight as an executive.