Candace Parker heads 2026 Basketball Hall of Fame class
Doc Rivers, Amar'e Stoudemire and Mike D'Antoni will join Parker, Ellena Delle Donne, Chamique Holdsclaw and the 1996 U.S. Olympic women's basketball team for enshrinement.
Candace Parker began what became a Hall of Fame career with the Sparks in 2008, when she was the WNBA MVP and Rookie of the Year. (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press) Candace Parker , Elena Delle Donne, Chamique Holdsclaw and the 1996 U.
S. Olympic women's basketball team will be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame later this year. Parker, Holdsclaw and members of the 1996 Olympic team were all in attendance Friday at halftime of the UConn-South Carolina game during the women's NCAA Final Four, where the selections were announced, as was Amar’e Stoudemire and Mike D’Antoni.
They will be joined by longtime NBA official Joey Crawford, NBA coach Doc Rivers and Gonzaga coach Mark Few in the Hall of Fame. Parker won three titles in the WNBA with three different teams: Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas. She is the only player in league history to win both the MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season.
She also won two titles while playing in college for Tennessee under Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt, plus two Olympic gold medals and two WNBA MVP awards. Delle Donne won two league MVP awards in 2015 and 2019, the second of which came when she led the Washington Mystics to their lone WNBA championship. Delle Donne became the first player in league history to shoot more than 50% from the field, 40% from three-point range and 90% from the free-throw line.