04/04/26 11:17:00
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04/04 11:15 CDT Parker, Delle Donne and 1996 US Olympic women's basketball team
set for Hall of Fame enshrinement
Parker, Delle Donne and 1996 US Olympic women's basketball team set for Hall of
Fame enshrinement
By DOUG FEINBERG
AP Basketball Writer
PHOENIX (AP) --- Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne, Chamique Holdsclaw and the
1996 U.S. Olympic women's basketball team will be enshrined in the Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame later this year.
Parker, Holdsclaw and members of the 1996 Olympic team were all in attendance
Friday at halftime of the UConn-South Carolina game during the women's Final
Four, where the selections were announced, as was Amar'e Stoudemire and Mike
D'Antoni.
They will be joined by longtime NBA official Joey Crawford, NBA coach Doc
Rivers and Gonzaga coach Mark Few in the Hall of Fame.
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's first undefeated
season at 39--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.
Stoudemire, who was the only NBA player in this year's 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'Antoni.
Rivers has nearly 1,200 victories on his resume, which puts him eighth on the
all-time wins list. He led the Boston Celtics to the NBA championship in 2008
and also was in charge of the Los Angeles Clippers during their Lob City era.
Few has won more than 770 games at Gonzaga in his career at the school. He set
the NCAA Division I men's coaching record by winning 81 games in his first
three years at the school.
Crawford officiated 2,561 regular-season NBA games and 50 Finals games over his
39-year career. He retired in 2016.
The enshrinement ceremony will take place in August at the Hall of Fame in
Springfield, Massachusetts.
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