Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett are the biggest names of the 2020 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class. The three superstars, along with five other legends, will be inducted into the most prestigious basketball institution on August 29 if everything goes well at the time.
Apart from them, the new HOF members are – Rudy Tomjanovich, the two-time champion with the Houston Rockets; Tamika Catchings arguably the most dominant defender in the past decade and a 12-time All-WNBA; Barbara Stevens, five-time NCAA Division II Coach of the year; Eddie Sutton, four-time NCAA Coach of the Year and Kim Mulkey the current head coach of Baylor Bears and a four-time NCAA champion (twice as a player).
Of course, the attention was mostly on the three players who dominated the NBA over the previous 20 years. Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, spoke instead of her late husband, saying that this was the crown of Black Mamba’s career.
“It’s definitely the peak of his NBA career, and every accomplishment that he had as an athlete was a steppingstone to be here,” she said.
Kobe was a five-time NBA champion and an 18-time All-Star. He spent his entire career with the Los Angeles Lakers, where he first managed to accomplish a three-peat alongside Shaquille O’Neal, and later on, win back-to-back titles with Pau Gasol. According to the majority of fans across the globe, he was the legitimate successor of Michael Jordan and the player who resembled MJ the most.
Tim Duncan had an equally impressive career as Kobe Bryant, and even better in some aspects. The leader of the Spurs dynasty, and arguably the best power forward ever, won five NBA titles, was a two-time MVP, and an icon of the team from San Antonio. He, too, played only for one team throughout his career.
It’s kind of the end of the journey here,” Duncan said. “It was an incredible career that I enjoyed so much.”
Garnett had just one title and one MVP trophy, but his style of play is something that changed many things. One of the first big guys with unreal athleticism forced others to adjust their game in order to stop him. Garnet was a defensive monster, precisely due to the physical abilities which were unreal at the time.
His only title came in 2008 when he played for the Boston Celtics. KG was loyal to his Minnesota Timberwolves during the prime of his career, but the organization didn’t supply him with any help. It is why many blame the team from Minneapolis that it ruined the career of one of the all-time greats.
“It’s the culmination,” KG explained. “It’s the culmination, man. You put countless hours into this. You dedicate yourself to a craft.”
These three guys pretty much marked the previous two decades and were the biggest stars of the league. Right from the start, there was no question about whether they would be inducted in this class. The entire group should have been proclaimed at the NCAA Final Four, but unfortunately, the circumstances prevented that from happening.
