Divac, Sikma, ‘T-Spoon’ among Hall inductees
Former NBA center Vlade Divac explains his reaction to being inducted into the 2019 Basketball Hall of Fame. (1:31)
Vlade Divac, Jack Sikma, Teresa Weatherspoon, Sidney Moncrief, Paul Westphal and Bill Fitch were among the 12 inductees named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday.
Al Attles, Carl Braun, Chuck Cooper, Bobby Jones, the 1957-59 Tennessee A&I men’s teams and the Wayland Baptist Flying Queens women’s program were also included in the Class of 2019, with the announcement made at the NCAA Final Four in Minneapolis.
The class will be enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Sept. 6.
Divac, who was selected via the International Committee, is currently the general manager of the Sacramento Kings. He had a storied FIBA career in addition to playing 16 seasons in the NBA, mostly with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Kings. He is one of seven NBA players with 13,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists and 1,500 blocked shots.
“I’m overwhelmed by this honor,” Divac said in a statement issued by the Kings. “As a young man, I never would have believed the opportunities afforded to me by this great sport. Basketball has looked after me for most of my life, and I’ve always done what I can to give back to this special community. It’s been an unforgettable journey and I want to thank my family for their support.”
Sikma, a three-time All-America selection at Illinois Wesleyan, helped guide the Seattle SuperSonics to their first NBA Finals during his rookie season in 1977-78. The seven-time All-Star fared even better in his second season, as the Sonics won their first NBA title. He is the only center in NBA history to have led the league in free throw percentage (.922).
Weatherspoon is a five-time WNBA All-Star and two-time Defensive Player of the Year who won an NCAA title with Louisiana Tech in 1988. The two-time All-America selection also won a gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
After her playing career, in which she became the first WNBA player to reach 1,000 points and 1,000 assists, she led her alma mater as head coach from 2009-14, compiling a 99-71 record while guiding the Lady Techsters to two NCAA tournament appearances.
One of the finest defensive guards in NBA history, Moncrief played 10 of his 11 seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, and he was a five-time All-Star and a two-time Defensive Player of the Year. He was a four-time second-team All-NBA player and a first-team All-NBA selection in 1982-83 before chronic knee problems shortened his career.
Westphal was a five-time All-Star and was named to the All-NBA first team in three seasons. He won a championship with the Boston Celtics in 1974 before helping the Phoenix Suns reach the NBA Finals in 1976. As a coach, he went 318-279 with a trip to the NBA Finals and two conference semifinals with the Suns.
Fitch won 944 games in his NBA coaching career, including a title with the Celtics in 1981. The two-time NBA Coach of the Year took on massive rebuilding projects in all five of his NBA stops, which explains his 1,106 losses and .460 career win percentage. In addition to the Celtics, he also coached the expansion Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets, New Jersey Nets and LA Clippers, and he took all five teams to the playoffs.
Cooper, the first African-American drafted in NBA history, was selected by the special direct-elect Early African-American Pioneers Committee. He averaged 6.7 points and 5.9 rebounds while playing for the Celtics, Milwaukee Hawks, St. Louis Hawks and Fort Wayne Pistons from 1950-56.
Cooper, who died in 1984 at the age of 57, also played a season for the Harlem Globetrotters-like Harlem Magicians in 1956 before leaving basketball for good.
The 82-year-old Attles, the Golden State Warriors patriarch and a former coach and guard, was chosen as a contributor. He has been dealing with health issues this NBA season and recently left the hospital and returned home to his Oakland residence.
Braun, a guard, played 13 seasons in the NBA and was named to five consecutive All-Star games (1953-57) as a member of the New York Knicks. He retired as the team’s career scoring leader with 10,449 points, which still ranks fifth. He died in 2010 at the age of 82.
Jones, a forward, was NBA All-Defensive first team eight times with the Philadelphia 76ers and twice was ABA All-Defensive first team. In 941 games between the NBA and ABA, he averaged 20.2 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. He was a member of Philadelphia’s championship team in 1983.
The Tennessee A&I teams of the 1957-59 seasons, coached by John McLendon, were the first college teams at any division to win three consecutive championships — winning the NAIA tournament the first two seasons before capping off the run with the NCAA men’s Division I tournament title.
The Wayland Baptist Flying Queens, coached by Harley Redin, won 131 consecutive games from 1953-58. The program, which was the first four-year college to provide full scholarships for 13 female players, also won 19 titles — 10 AAU and nine WNIT.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Tim MacMahon, Marc J. Spears of ESPN’s The Undefeated and The Associated Press contributed to this report.