Bryant headlines elite class of 2020

Kobe Bryant’s resume has yet another entry to validate his greatness: He’s now, officially, a Hall of Famer.

He’s got plenty of elite company in the 2020 class, one that may be as glitzy as any.

Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, and fellow NBA greats Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett headlined a nine-person group announced Saturday as this year’s class of enshrinees into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

“An amazing class,” Duncan said.

They all got into the Hall in their first year as finalists, as did WNBA great Tamika Catchings. Others had to wait a bit longer for the good news: Two-time NBA champion Coach Rudy Tomjanovich finally got his call, as did longtime Baylor women’s Coach Kim Mulkey, 1,000game winner Barbara Stevens of Bentley and Eddie Sutton, who coached three Final Four teams.

They were the eight finalists who were announced in February, and the panel of 24 voters who were tasked to

decide who merited selection wound up choosing them all. Also headed to the Hall this year: former FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann, selected as a direct-elect by the international committee.

“He was the head of FIBA and this was a way to honor him,” Hall of Fame Chairman and enshrinee Jerry Colangelo said. “It was a special thing done through that committee.”

Bryant died about three weeks before the Hall of Fame

said — as if there was going to be any doubt — that he was a finalist. Duncan and Garnett were also widely perceived to be locks to be part of this class; they were both 15-time NBA All-Stars, and Bryant was an 18-time selection.

Bryant’s death has been part of a jarring start of the year for basketball: Commissioner Emeritus David Stern died on Jan. 1, Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among nine who died in the crash in late January, and the NBA shut down March 11 as the coronavirus pandemic began to grip the U.S.

“Obviously, we wish that he

was here with us to celebrate,” Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s wife, said on the ESPN broadcast of the class announcement. “But it’s definitely the peak of his NBA career and every accomplishment that he had as an athlete was a steppingstone to be here. So we’re incredibly proud of him.”

Bryant was also a five-time champion with the Los Angeles Lakers.

“This is an incredibly special class, for many reasons,” Colangelo said.

The enshrinement ceremony in Springfield, Mass., is scheduled for Aug. 29. Should the pandemic force a delay,

there is a tentative plan for an October ceremony as well.

For this year, largely because of the star power of this class, the Hall chose to enact a one-year suspension of direct elections from the Veteran’s, Women’s Veteran’s, Early African-American Pioneers and Contributors categories.

With Bryant, Duncan and Garnett as perhaps the top NBA trio to ever enter simultaneously, the Hall wanted to make sure that no enshrinee would be overlooked.

“We didn’t need to water it down,” Colangelo said. “Next year is another year for many.”

Kobe Bryant, who won five NBA championships during his career, was one of nine persons announced Saturday as this year’s inductees into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Bryant died Jan. 26 in a helicopter crash. (AP file photo)