Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol and Tony Parker headline the list of 12 finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as the greatest class of international players in the sport's history. All three are finalists on their first ballot, as is Dwyane Wade, and the lot of them should be locks four years after they all retired in 2019.
The Hall of Fame announced its list of finalists on Friday of All-Star weekend. The official Class of 2023 will be unveiled during the NCAA Final Four on April 1. This year's honorees will then be enshrined on Aug. 12.
Only James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Bryant and Michael Jordan have scored more points than Nowitzki, who also retired as the greatest shooting big man in league history. No player taller than 6-foot-9 has made more 3-pointers in his career than the 7-foot Nowitzki's 1,982, and his signature move — a one-legged mid-range fadeaway — is appropriately in bronze outside the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Wade played 15 of his 16 NBA seasons for the Heat, only briefly joining his hometown Chicago Bulls and reuniting with James on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Wade retired in 2019, as knee problems, which lingered from a meniscus surgery 17 years earlier as a sophomore at Marquette, derailed his career in his mid-30s. He walked away from the game as arguably its third-greatest shooting guard behind Jordan and Bryant.
Playing alongside his younger brother, Marc, the NBA's 2013 Defensive Player of the Year, Gasol turned Spain into the greatest threat to U.S. dominance on the international stage. He won three Olympic medals, including silver in 2008 and 2012, and a gold medal at the 2006 FIBA World Cup. Gasol led Spain to three EuroBasket championships, capturing MVP honors in 2009 and 2015.
Parker won four medals with France in EuroBasket competition, including gold in 2013, when he was named the MVP. He briefly held the tournament's all-time scoring record, before Gasol eclipsed it in 2017.Popovich is the architect of a Spurs dynasty that won five championships and reached the playoffs a record 22 consecutive times from 1998-2019. As general manager in San Antonio, he hired himself as head coach 18 games into the 1996-97 season, tanked and landed Duncan with the No.
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