SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Three more members of the San Antonio Spurs organization will be enshrined Saturday into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Gregg Popovich as a head coach, Tony Parker as a player, and Becky Hammon for her WNBA resume.
Heading into his 28th season at the helm of the Spurs, Popovich is the longest active tenured coach with the same team in all four major professional sports (NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB).
Pop is the NBA’s all-time winningest coach (1,536 wins, Reg. Season + Playoffs) (1,366 Reg. Season wins).
Back in April Pop said, “He’s not a Hall of Fame guy,” but his numbers show otherwise.
Parker is the first teenager to ever appear in a game for the San Antonio Spurs.
He paved the way for current Spurs’ teens Victor Wembanyama and Sidy Cissoko. Parker won four NBA Championships (2003, 2005, 2007, 2014) and is one of four players in NBA history with 4,000+ points & 1,000+ assists in the playoffs (Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James).
Hammon played eight seasons for the San Antonio Stars (2007-14) and eight seasons for the New York Liberty (1999-2006).
In WNBA history, she ranks third in free-throw percentage, fourth in three-point field goals made, sixth in assists, 12th in total points, 14th in games played, 15th in free throws made, 15th in total minutes and 20th in field goals made. She was named one of the WNBA’s Top 15 Players of all time in July of 2011.
Hammon is going in as a player, but you can’t ignore her coaching accomplishments. Hammon spent eight seasons as an assistant coach with the Spurs, becoming the first female full-time paid coach in the NBA. She was promoted to the front of the bench in June 2018. Last season she led the Las Vegas Aces to the 2022 WNBA Championship.
The numbers listed above barely scratch the surface, but based on those alone it’s appropriate that Pop, Tony, and Becky will all be immortalized in Springfield, Massachusetts, the birthplace of basketball.