Vince Carter, Chauncey Billups headline 13-member class for Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame
Vince Carter wowed the basketball world with his high-flying dunks for more than two decades. Chauncey Billups was a clutch guard and Finals MVP for the Detroit Pistons.
Two icons from the 2000s era of basketball are headed to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
The 13-member class inducted Saturday includes former Lakers, Grizzlies and Warriors executive Jerry West, who was already inducted as a player and as a member of the 1960 U.S. Olympic team. Also in the class: players Seimone Augustus, Michael Cooper, Walter Davis, Dick Barnett and Michele Timms, coaches Charles Smith, Harley Redin and Bo Ryan, broadcaster/coach Doug Collins and owner Herb Simon.
The 2024 class will be enshrined into the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, in August.
Carter, 47, was an eight-time All-Star and the NBA Rookie of the Year in 1999 with the Toronto Raptors. He had the longest career in NBA history, playing 22 seasons for the Raptors, Nets, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Hawks, Magic, Kings and Suns, and finished with 25,728 career points, good for 21st in league history.
He played in college at North Carolina under coach Dean Smith.
The 6-foot-6 guard's longevity in the game was legendary and he was a useful player deep into his 40s, hanging with players less than half his age. He averaged five points over 60 games at age 43 with the Hawks in his final season.
Billups, 47, was a five-time All-Star and won an NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. He was also the MVP of the Finals that season and is now the coach of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Billups was the third overall pick in the 1997 draft by the Boston Celtics, but his pro career was a little slow to develop. He eventually found a home in Detroit, making his first All-Star team in his ninth season.
Part of a balanced Pistons team that included Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince and Ben Wallace, Billups averaged 21 points and 5.2 assists per game in the 2004 Finals. They beat the Lakers in five games for the title.
The 85-year-old West was inducted as a contributor. The 14-time All-Star was inducted as a player in 1980. He spent more than 20 years as an executive for the Los Angeles Lakers — helping the franchise win eight championships over a span from 1980 to 2002 — and was also the general manager for the Memphis Grizzlies and an executive with the Golden State Warriors.
Augustus, 39, was a four-time WNBA champion with the Minnesota Lynx. The 6-foot-0 guard played in college at LSU, helping the program to three Final Fours. She's 13th in WNBA history with 6,005 career points.
Defensive master Michael Cooper was also among those selected to the Hall of Fame on Saturday. His roots are almost entirely Los Angeles. He was born in the city in 1956, and would go on to play basketball for Pasadena High School and later Pasadena City College before transferring to the University of New Mexico.
After spending two years in New Mexico, he was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the third round of the 1978 NBA Draft.
He would go on to spend the next 12 years with the franchise as a key part of the Showtime Era of Lakers Basketball, winning five NBA Championships over the span. He was also named to eight NBA All-Defensive Teams, five of which were First-Team nods. He was also named the 1987 NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
A shooting guard by trade, Cooper finished his NBA career with 7,729 points, 3,666 assists, 2,769 rebounds and 1,033 steals.
Following his playing career, Cooper would jump into coaching, when he joined his former team in 1994 as an assistant coach under former-teammate Magic Johnson and then Del Harris. He then joined the Los Angeles Sparks in the same capacity for just one season in 1999, before he was named the team's head coach in 2000. He would maintain that position until 2004, leading the team to two WNBA Titles (2001, 2002) and a Coach of the Year Award in 2000. Of his 12 years as a WNBA coach, he made the playoffs eight times, finishing with a 230 - 158 record.
He previously coached Culver City High School before joining Cal State, LA's men's basketball program in 2023.
Davis, who died in 2023, is the all-time leading scorer in Phoenix Suns history with 15,666 points. He was the 1978 Rookie of the Year and made six All-Star teams.