Michael Cooper, Marques Johnson Among 2022 NBA Hall Of Fame Finalists
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — As a part of NBA All-Star Weekend, a three day event beginning on Friday, the NBA has announced their 2022 NBA Hall of Fame Finalists.
11 finalists were named, all with prolific playing or coaching backgrounds that have held basketball transcend to the level it's at today.
Among those with a chance to be instilled into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame are former-Laker Michael Cooper, former-Clipper and UCLA Bruin Marques Johnson and former Los Angeles Spark coach Marianne Stanley.
Michael Cooper
Cooper's 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. Cooper rejoined the NBA in 2004 with the Denver Nuggets where he was first an assistant coach, before being named their interim head coach from that same season. Following that brief stint, he would head to the NBA's D-League, where he led the Albuquerque Thunderbirds to a league championship in 2006. In 2007, Cooper once again took over the helm of the Sparks franchise, until 2009 when he would leave for University of Southern California's Women's Basketball team; a position that lasted until 2013, where he led the Trojans to a WNIT runner-up spot and a 72-57 record. He took over as the Atlanta Dream's head coach in 2014, where he stayed for three years before heading back to Los Angeles for good.
In 2018, he would make a brief stop in the "Big 3" basketball league with 3's Company. After just one season he moved on to coach Chadwick School's boys basketball team until 2021, when he moved over to Culver City High School in the same capacity.
Of his 12 years as a WNBA coach, he made the playoffs eight times, finishing with a 230 - 158 record.
Marques Johnson
Another Los Angeles native, Marques Johnson was originally born in Louisiana, but raised in South Los Angeles, where he attended Crenshaw High School. He was named the Los Angeles City Section 4-A Division Player of the Year in 1973.
Johnson, a small forward, would go on to join John Wooden at UCLA the following year, where he helped the Bruins win the NCAA National Title in 1975. He would go on to be named the National College Player of the Year in 1977, as well as the Pac-8 Player of the Year and a consensus First Team All-American the same year. His stellar performance that season would led to his selection as the No. 3 overall selection in the 1977 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. While with the Bucks, he was named to four All-Star Games, one All-NBA First Team, and two All-NBA Second Teams.
He would stay with the Bucks until 1984 when he joined the Los Angeles Clippers. In 1986, Johnson was named to his fifth All-Star Game and was named the NBA Comeback Player of the Year. Johnson's time as a Clipper would end in 1987 before he joined the Golden State Warriors in 1989, despite suffering a what was essentially a career-ending neck injury in 1987.
Johnson's number has been retired by both the UCLA Bruins and the Milwaukee Bucks. He finished his NBA career with 13,892 points, 4,817 rebounds and 2,502 assists. In 2013 he was enshrined in the NCAA College Basketball Hall of Fame. He is also in the California Sports Hall of Fame and the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame.
Following his playing career, Johnson briefly forayed into film with roles in basketball films "White Men Can't Jump" and "Blue Chips," as well as "Love and Action in Chicago" and "Forget Paris." He joined KFWB-AM as a Clippers analyst before finally settling in as an analyst for the Milwaukee Bucks, a position he currently holds.
Marianne Stanley
Marianne Stanley has coached in professional and collegiate basketball for over 45 years now, spending some time with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2000 and from 2008 to 2009. She has also been a head coach at USC, the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University, amongst many other stops, including her current position as head coach of the Indiana Fever.
Stanley was named WNBA Head Coach of the Year in 2002 for her time with the Washington Mystics. She was named to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. Stanley was also part of the 1986 coaching staff for the United State's gold medal winning team in the FIBA World Championship.
She is already a member of the Naismith Hall of Fame, but in a different capacity. She was one of the many teammates enshrined in 2014, as part of Immaculata College's 1972–1974 teams that won three consecutive National Titles in that span. A film was also made about the team titled "The Mighty Macs," which was released in 2011.
The full 2022 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame finalists class is:
- Leta Andrews
- Swin Cash
- Michael Cooper
- Hugh Evans
- Manu Ginobili
- Tim Hardaway
- Bob Huggins
- Marques Johnson
- George Karl
- Marianne Stanley
- Lindsay Whalen
