Bryant, Class of 2020 to be inducted in May
The Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2020, which includes Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett among others, will be inducted in May in Connecticut, the Naismith Memorial HOF announced Friday.
The induction ceremonies are set for May 13-15 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn.
The ceremony was originally scheduled to be held Aug. 29 in Springfield, Mass. Those plans were scrapped in May.
“For this single event, and only because of the pandemic, we will relocate the entire event one time to Mohegan Sun, which has been a longtime marketing partner of the hall. Mohegan Sun has shown they can effectively operate a ‘near-bubble’ for our event, which provides a more secure environment for our guests,” hall of fame CEO and president John Doleva said in a statement.
Bryant died Jan. 26 at age 41 in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif., that also claimed the life of his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others. Bryant was an 18-time NBA all-star, five-time
NBA champion and three-time NBA Finals MVP in a 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Duncan, 44, also played for just one team, the San Antonio Spurs, in a 19-year career.
He won five NBA titles, made 15 all-star teams and was a two-time league MVP.
Garnett, 44, also made 15 all-star teams and was defensive player of the year in 2007-08.
The other members of the hall of fame’s Class of 2020 are:
Tamika Catchings, 40, the national player of the year for Tennessee in 2000 and the WNBA MVP for the Indiana Fever in 2011.
Coaches Eddie Sutton, who was the first coach in NCAA history to lead four schools to the NCAA Tournament; Rudy Tomjanovich, who coached the Houston Rockets to NBA championships in 1994 and 1995; Kim Mulkey, who has coached Baylor’s women’s team to three NCAA championships; Barbara Stevens, one of five coaches in NCAA women’s basketball history to reach 1,000 career wins.