GREATNESS DELAYED
Enshrinement of Kobe, Class of 2020 moved to next year due to pandemic
SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS—THE late Kobe Bryant’s induction into America’s Basketball Hall of Fame has been postponed to 2021, US media reported on Wednesday.
Bryant, who died along with eight others in a helicopter crash in January, was schedule to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Aug. 29.
Former NBA stars Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and six others are also slated to be enshrined next year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re definitely canceling,” Hall of Fame spokesperson Jerry Colangelo told ESPN on Wednesday. “It’s going to have to be the first quarter of next year. [The board will] meet in a couple of weeks and look at the options of how and when and where.”
Bryant died on Jan. 26 at age 41 in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, that also claimed the life of his 13yearold daughter, Gianna, and seven others.
Bryant was an 18time NBA allstar, fivetime NBA champion and threetime NBA finals MVP in a twodecade career with the Los Angeles Lakers.
WNBA great Tamika Catchings is also part of the Class of 2020, along with twotime NBA champion coach Rudy Tomjanovich, longtime Baylor women’s coach Kim Mulkey, 1,000game winner Barbara Stevens of Bentley and three-time Final Four coach Eddie Sutton—who died this past weekend.
Meanwhile, the NBA reminded its teams on Wednesday that players who are currently outside the United States have been cleared to return, though quarantine rules may apply in some areas.
Acting secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf signed an order last week providing the exemption for professional athletes from rules put in place during the pandemic that would have otherwise barred their entry into the United States.
Wolf says sports “provide much needed economic benefits, but equally important, they provide community pride and national unity. In today’s environment, Americans need their sports.”
A small number of NBA players from foreign countries left for home during the pandemic. Teams are expecting guidance, perhaps as soon as later this week, as to when they will be allowed to resume fullscale practicing in advance of a possible resumption of the NBA season later this summer.
James seething
In other news, NBA superstar Lebron James was among the US athletes taking to social media in outrage over the death of a black man in Minnesota after a white policeman kneeled on his neck for several minutes.
Four Minneapolis police officers were fired on Tuesday as a video showing one of them kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who later died, sparked protests.
Los Angeles Lakers playmaker James contrasted the incident with the kneeling protests of former NFL star Colin Kaepernick in 2016.
Kaepernick was ostracized by the NFL for kneeling during the playing of the national anthem in a protest against police brutality and racial injustice.
“This ... ... Is Why,” James posted on his Instagram feed with side by side photos of the white policeman kneeling on Floyd’s neck and Kaepernick kneeling on the sideline.
“Do you understand NOW!!??!!??” James wrote. “Or is it still blurred to you?? #Staywoke.”
Other figures from the sports world speaking out over the Minneapolis incident included Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
“This is murder. Disgusting,” Kerr tweeted. “Seriously, what the hell is wrong with US ???? ”