NEW YORK • Former National Basketball Association (NBA) stars Steve Nash, Ray Allen, Jason Kidd, Grant Hill and Maurice Cheeks were among 13 people inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame yesterday.
The others are retired Croatian player Dino Radja, college coach Charles Driesell, Women's NBA stars Tina Thompson and Katie Smith, contributors Rod Thorn and Rick Welts, pioneer Ora Mae Washington and 1970s star Charlie Scott.
"This is incredible to be here with this group," said two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nash. "It's a dream team."
The Canadian was an eight-time NBA All-Star, ranks third in all-time NBA assists and has the highest career free-throw accuracy percentage, 90.4 per cent, in league history over 19 NBA seasons.
Kidd, a 10-time All-Star in his 18 campaigns, won an NBA crown with Dallas in 2011. He ranks second on the all-time steals list with 2,684 and second on the career assists list with 12,091.
Allen won NBA titles with the Boston Celtics in 2008 and Miami Heat in 2013, with 10 All-Star nods in his 18 seasons. He is the career leader in three-pointers with 2,973 and won Olympic gold in 2000.
"I don't think as much about my career but the people that have gotten me to this point," he said.
Hill was a seven-time NBA All-Star in 19 league seasons and won Olympic gold in 1996.
Cheeks, who helped Philadelphia to the 1978 NBA title, was a four-time All-Star in 15 league seasons and is now an assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Thompson won four WNBA titles with Houston while Smith took two crowns with Detroit. Washington was a women's pioneer in the early 20th century segregation era, her teams losing only six times in 18 years, all to men's squads.
Thorn was a former NBA player, general manager with the Chicago Bulls when they selected Michael Jordan and served as the NBA executive vice-president of basketball operations from 1986-2000. Welts, now president of the Golden State Warriors, helped launch the WNBA, expand the NBA worldwide and raise the profile of the All-Star Game.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
