Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade headlined the loaded list of finalists for the Class of 2023 Hall of Fame

Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol and Tony Parker head the list of 12 finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as the greatest class of international players in the history of the sport. All three are finalists on their first ballot, as is Dwyane Wade, and their lot should be locked four years after their retirement in 2019.

The Hall of Fame announced their list of finalists on Friday of All-Star Weekend. The official Class of 2023 will be unveiled during the NCAA Final Four on April 1st. This year’s awardees will then be anchored on August 12th.

Legendary San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich joins his longtime point guard Parker as a finalist. Both should follow Tim Duncan (a 2021 inductee) and Manu Ginobili (a 2022 inductee) into the Hall of Fame. As a quartet, they won four championships. Becky Hammon, who joined Popovich’s coaching staff at the end of the dynasty, was also named a finalist for her contributions to the game as a player.

The other Hall of Fame finalists for the Class of 2023 are Jennifer Azzi, Gary Blair, Marian Washington, Gene Bess, David Hixon and Gene Keady.

More on the headliners of this year’s finalist list:

Dirk Nowitzki

• 2011 NBA Champion (Finals MVP)

• 2007 NBA MVP

• 14-time NBA All-Star

• 12-time All-NBA selection (four times first team, five times second team)

• Sixth in NBA all-time scorer list (31,560 points)

Retiring as the tallest European player in basketball history, Nowitzki set the NBA table for the current list of foreign-born superstars including Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic. The ninth overall pick in the 1998 draft, Nowitzki played 21 NBA seasons, all for the Dallas Mavericks, and won the 2007 league MVP honor. His 2011 title journey — beating Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers, Kevin Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder and LeBron James’ Miami Heat — cemented his legacy as an all-timer.

Only James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Bryant and Michael Jordan have scored more points than Nowitzki, who has also retired as the biggest shooting big man in league history. No player taller than 6ft 9 has made more 3-pointers in his career than the 7ft Nowitzki at 1,982, and his signature move – a one-legged midrange fadeaway – is appropriately bronzed outside the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

The story goes on

In addition to his NBA accomplishments, Nowitzki led his native Germany to a silver medal at the 2005 EuroBasket tournament and a bronze medal at the 2002 World Championships, earning MVP honors at both events.

Dirk Nowitzki played 21 NBA seasons for the Dallas Mavericks, winning the league as MVP and an NBA championship. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Dwyane Wade

• Three-time NBA champion (2006, 2012, 2013)

• 2006 Finals MVP

• 13-time NBA All-Star

• Eight-time All-NBA selection (two first team, three second team)

As the fifth overall winner in 2003, Wade made an immediate impact in the NBA as a lightning-fast finisher and gave the Miami Heat its first-ever Finals MVP title in his third season in 2006 (over teammate Shaquille O’Neal). Wade’s 30.2 points per game led the NBA in 2009 when he finished third in the league’s MVP race, his highest result. A year later, James and Chris Bosh joined Wade in Miami and formed a legendary triumvirate, winning two titles and reaching the finals in each of their four seasons together.

Wade played 15 of his 16 NBA seasons for the Heat, briefly affiliated with his hometown Chicago Bulls, and reunited with James with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Wade retired in 2019 as knee problems left over from meniscus surgery 17 years earlier as a sophomore at Marquette ended his career in his mid-30s. He left the game as arguably the third-biggest shooting guard behind Jordan and Bryant.

Wade was also a member of the US men’s national team that won the 2008 Olympic gold medal.

Dwyane Wade won three NBA championships in his career, including two with the Miami Heat triumvirate of LeBron James and Chris Bosh. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Pow gasoline

• Two-time NBA champion (2009, 2010)

• Six-time NBA All-Star

• Four-time All-NBA selection (twice Second Team)

• 2006 FIBA ​​World Cup gold medalist, three-time Olympic medalist

One of the most underrated stars in NBA history, Gasol rose as an All-Star with the Memphis Grizzlies before teaming with Bryant in a 2008 move to the Los Angeles Lakers. They reached three straight Finals and won championships in 2009 and 2010, and Gasol became Finals MVP last year when his 19 points and 18 rebounds helped the Lakers win a tough Game 7 against rival Boston Celtics.

Gasol completed two All-Star games for the Chicago Bulls and reached the 2017 Western Conference Finals with the San Antonio Spurs’ 61 wins. Along with Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, Gasol is one of the most accomplished and capable bigs of all time and the only player to have 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 3,500 assists and 1,500 blocks in his career. Gasol last played in the NBA for the Milwaukee Bucks in 2019.

Alongside his younger brother Marc, the 2013 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Gasol made Spain the biggest threat to US 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 Championship. Gasol led Spain to three EuroBasket championships and won MVP honors in 2009 and 2015. During his NBA career, he also won three titles in the top Spanish division, winning the championships with Barcelona in 1999, 2001 and 2021.

Pau Gasol had a legendary NBA and international career that earned him two NBA titles and three Olympic medals. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)

Tony Parker

• Four-time NBA champion (2003, 2005, 2007, 2014)

• Finals MVP 2007

• Six-time NBA All-Star

• Four-time All-NBA selection (three-time second-team)

The 28th overall pick of the 2001 draft, Parker teamed with Duncan and Ginobili to form the most successful trio in NBA history. Parker started every game as a 20-year-old on San Antonio’s 2003 title team and was a running point for Duncan and David Robinson. Spurs would go on to win three more championships with Parker at the helm, and his streak-best 24.5 points per game in the 2007 Finals earned him the honorary MVP title.

Parker sliced ​​like a knife through NBA defenses in pick-and-roll, pivoted to the basket for floaters and wrong-footed layups, or pulled up for an increasingly deadly mid-range jump shot. Among foreign-born players, only Nowitzki, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing and Gasol have more NBA points than Parker’s 19,473, and Steve Nash is the only international player to have more NBA assists than Parker’s 7,036.

Parker won four medals in the EuroBasket competition with France, including gold in 2013 when he was named MVP. He briefly held the tournament’s all-time record before Gasol eclipsed him in 2017.

Tony Parker won four NBA championships with the San Antonio Spurs. (` Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Gregg Popovich

• Five-time NBA champion (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014)

• Three-time NBA Coach of the Year

• All-Time NBA Victory Leaders (1,358)

Popovich is the architect of a Spurs dynasty, winning five championships and making 22 straight playoffs from 1998 to 2019. As general manager at San Antonio during the 1996-97 season, he enlisted as head coach for 18 games, tanking and landing Duncan with the No. 1 pick overall. The Spurs won at least two-thirds of their games in 17 of their next 20 seasons, including five 60-win campaigns.

Popovich’s Spurs have been the mark of consistency, winning the first and last of their five titles 15 years apart, culminating in a 2014 run to the championship that featured perhaps the most beautiful basketball of all time – an orchestra of ball movement prioritizing great shots over good.

Popovich overtook Don Nelson as the most successful coach in league history in March of last season. Loved for his love-hate relationship with the media and staunch support for social justice, Popovich is considered one of the four greatest coaches in the NBA of all time, along with Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson and Pat Riley.

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is the most successful coach in NBA history. (` Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Becky Hammon

Hammon, a three-time Colorado State All-American, joined the WNBA in 1999 as an undrafted free agent and became one of the league’s pioneers, making three All-Star appearances each with the New York Liberty and San Antonio Stars. In the first 10 seasons of her 16-year career, she reached four WNBA finals.

A three-time goalscorer and league leader, Hammon ranks 15th on the WNBA career scorer list and sixth on the league’s all-time assists list. She has been named to the WNBA 15th, 20th and 25th anniversary teams and most recently made the official list of the 25 Greatest Players in League History in 2021.

Becky Hammon was a pioneer in the WNBA and now the title-winning coach of the Las Vegas Aces. (` Photo/Stacy Bengs)

Playing abroad in Spain and Russia, Hammon won the Spanish League title in 2010. She became a citizen of Russia, twice represented the country at the Olympics and won a bronze medal in 2008.

In her post-playing career, Hammon joined Popovich’s staff at Spurs in 2014, becoming the first full-time assistant coach in one of North America’s four major sports leagues. Passed over for several head coaching jobs in the NBA, Hammon accepted the job as lead coach of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces in December 2021. She coached the team to a league record and a championship in her freshman season.