Basketball Hall of Fame: Who is eligible in 2025, 2026 and 2027?

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame welcomes its inductees, with former NBA stars Vince Carter and Chauncey Billups leading the 13-member class.

The 2024 class also includes Los Angeles Lakers legends Jerry West and Michael Cooper. West will be the first person to be inducted three times, with his most recent selection coming as a game contributor.

The group of 2025 inductees will be announced in April at the NCAA Division I Final Four in San Antonio. But since no specific Hall of Famers will be inducted next year, let's also take a look at the previous candidates on the ballot who could make the cut.

As for the class of 2026, there will be at least one likely first-round pick if Carmelo Anthony is on the ballot. LaMarcus Aldridge has an interesting case for the 2026 class, as does his former Brooklyn Nets teammate Blake Griffin for the 2027 class.

Identifying Hall of Fame inductees isn't always easy because, as previously explained by ESPN's Baxter Holmes, the process is conducted behind closed doors by committees with unknown members. Still, we'll do our best to consider who might get the call soon.

Looking ahead to next year and beyond, we should consider which former NBA players will be on the ballot four years after their retirement as we plan classes for 2025, 2026 and 2027.

Newly eligible for funding from 2025

None

The best player to retire from the NBA after 2020/21 was Marc Gasol, although he continued to play in Spain for the club he founded, Basquet Girona, until January of this year. The House has been inconsistent in the way it has handled such appearances in terms of the eligibility timeline, but I don't believe Gasol will be on the ballot until 2028. His brother Pau Gasol was inducted in 2023.

New Lakers head coach JJ Redick is the next best candidate. Without an All-Star appearance or a title, Redick's candidacy would depend heavily on his performance as a college player at Duke.

Newly eligible for funding in 2026

1. Carmelo Anthony

As the only retired member of the NBA's 75th Anniversary team not yet inducted into the Hall of Fame, Anthony will join the rest of that group when he is eligible. Anthony retired ninth in his NBA career with 28,289 points and was a 10-time All-Star and made six All-NBA appearances.

2. LaMarcus Aldridge

Will Aldridge's career merit a first-round selection? Whether in 2026 or later, Aldridge is sure to make it, ticking all the boxes in terms of both accolades (seven All-Star appearances and five All-NBA picks) and career points (20,558 points). . Although scoring at least 20,000 points is no longer a guarantee of selection, any eligible player who has scored more than Aldridge is in the Hall.

Newly eligible for funding from 2027

1. Blake Griffin

The No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft will be an interesting case for the Hall of Fame. His accolades – six All-Star games and five All-NBA seasons (three second-team and two third-team nods) – would normally warrant selection, but Griffin's prime was shortened by injuries. He played only 765 games and finished his career with fewer than 15,000 points. Add to that Griffin's influence as a college star at Oklahoma and 2011 Slam Dunk Contest champion, and I think it makes his candidacy overblown.

2. Andre Iguodala

If Michael Cooper can be inducted into the Hall of Fame for winning five NBA championships and making the All-Defensive team eight times without ever being an All-Star, Iguodala should be an easy choice. Iguodala made a single All-Star appearance (and was All-Defensive only twice), but advanced stats showed he was among the league's best perimeter defenders and was underrated as a star. Considering Iguodala's role in the Golden State Warriors' four titles, including winning Finals MVP in 2015, I think his chances are good.

3. John Wall

In an ESPN broadcast during the NBA Summer League, Wall said he still hopes to return to the NBA after most recently playing 34 games for the LA Clippers in 2022-23. Assuming a comeback never occurs, Wall will be another No. 1 pick with a strong peak (five All-Star appearances) whose prime was cut short by injuries. Wall played in only 647 games, 118 fewer than Griffin, and made only one All-NBA team. I think he probably won't make it.

Holdover candidates

Given how the Hall of Fame works, it makes most sense to take a look at the finalists who didn't make the cut in recent years to see which eligible players have a chance to fill future classes. Notably, only one NBA player to reach this stage in the last 15 years has not been selected: Kevin Johnson, most recently a finalist in 2016.

1. Marques Johnson

Johnson has been a finalist three times in the last six years, and since it's unlikely to be his first nomination, it seems like 2025 could be his year. Johnson's career statistics were limited due to injuries, but he is a five-time All-Star who was also a legend at UCLA, where he helped John Wooden to his final championship in 1975 and won National Player of the Year honors as a senior in 1977.

2. Amar'e Stoudemire

Like Griffin, whose career has been remarkably similar, Stoudemire is on the edge. He also had six All-Star appearances and five All-NBA selections, but the long-term effects of microfracture knee surgery also shortened Stoudemire's prime. He finished the season with 15,994 points, which ranks 128th in league history. I'd bet on Stoudemire making it, but he wasn't among the nominees for this class in what appears to be his first year of eligibility.

3. Joe Johnson

Although Johnson has not yet been nominated, as I noted during his playing career, his resume is more typical of a Hall of Famer than one might think. Every qualified player with at least seven All-Star appearances in the modern era has made it, as have nearly all players with at least 20,000 career points (Tom Chambers and Antawn Jamison, the two players who cleared the bar with fewer points than Johnson, are). the exceptions). At some point, as the score increases, we may have to reconsider the 20,000 mark as a Hall of Fame standard, but given the close similarity of Johnson's career to Hall of Famer Mitch Richmond (six All-Star appearances, 90 fewer career points), I think he'll get there eventually.

Who else should the Hall consider?

1. Shawn Marion

So far, Steve Nash is the only member of the “Seven Seconds or Less” Phoenix Suns, which includes Marion and Stoudemire, to reach the Hall. I tend to favor Marion, who has had a longer career and, according to advanced stats, performed better than Stoudemire when they played together in Phoenix, but a greater emphasis on accolades would favor Stoudemire. Add in Joe Johnson and it's amusing that three of the six players I listed were teammates on the 2004-05 Suns.

2. Horace Grant

If the Hall wants to reward a defense-oriented role player on championship teams, I think Grant is a better choice than newcomer Michael Cooper. He was an All-Star once, in 1993-94, and his career might have been viewed differently if more emphasis had been placed on efficient scoring during Grant's prime. According to Basketball-Reference.com, Grant's 118 career wins are second among eligible non-Hall players behind Buck Williams (120).

3. Jimmy Jones

The Hall recently succeeded in expanding its ABA representation with the induction of Indiana Pacers teammates Roger Brown (2013), Mel Daniels (2012) and George McGinnis (2017). That leaves Jones as the most deserving remaining ABA candidate. A six-time All-Star and three-time All-ABA first-team pick, he was also named to the ABA All-Time Team. However, Jones' short post-ABA career with the Washington Bullets and lack of an ABA title (his teams lost in the 1968 and 1974 ABA Finals) was hard to overlook.