Divac, 11 others make the Hall of Fame
Moncrief, Sikma, Westphal will join former Lakers, Kings center in shrine.
MINNEAPOLIS — The longest active streak of missing the NBA playoffs belongs to Sacramento, where General Manager Vlade Divac has been trying to return the Kings to the league's elite over the last four seasons.
Back when the slick-passing Serbian big man was in the paint, the Kings had quite the run. For his impact on the NBA as one of the pioneering Eastern Europeans, Divac was announced Saturday as one of the 12 honorees in the 2019 class of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
“We created something special there, the first day of training camp that led us,” said Divac, who played for Sacramento from 1998-2004, with a peak in 2002 when the Kings lost to the Lakers in overtime of Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. “For six years, we were the most exciting team in the league and really played basketball the right way.”
The class will be enshrined at the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., on Sept. 6. Selected this year with Divac were NBA players Carl Braun, Chuck Cooper, Bobby Jones, Sidney Moncrief, Jack Sikma and Paul Westphal, NBA coach Bill Fitch, NBA contributor Al Attles, WNBA player Teresa Weatherspoon, the 1957-59 teams from Tennessee A&I and the Wayland Baptist University program.
Divac, who was elected directly by the international committee, played 16 years in the NBA, including eight with the Lakers. The 7-foot-1 Divac had his jersey retired by the Kings after helping them start a streak of eight straight postseason appearances upon his arrival. They never advanced past the conference finals.
Moncrief and Sikma, who were elected by the North American committee, were teammates with the Milwaukee Bucks from 1986-89. The seven-time All-Star Sikma won an NBA title in his second season with the Seattle SuperSonics.
Moncrief was a five-time All-Star and two-time NBA defensive player of the year in the mid-1980s for the Bucks, who lost in the Eastern Conference finals three times during his career.
Weatherspoon, who was elected by the women's committee, was a five-time WNBA All-Star for the New York Liberty who was the first in the league to reach 1,000 points and 1,000 assists. She led Louisiana Tech to an NCAA championship in 1988.
Jones and Westphal were the other players elected by the North American committee. Jones was an eight-time NBA all-defensive first team pick and four-time All-Star with the Philadelphia 76ers, winning a title with them in 1983. Westphal was a five-time All-Star who won a championship with the Boston Celtics in 1974.
Attles was a direct election by the contributor committee. He played for the Philadelphia Warriors from 1960-71 and later was a coach, executive and ambassador for the organization.
Cooper, who died in 1984, was directly elected by the early African American pioneers committee.
Wayland Baptist, elected directly by the women's veterans committee, was among the first women's programs to award scholarships. Under the guidance of coach Harley Redin, the small school in West Texas won 131 straight games from 1953-58 and 10 national championships overall.