The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame will welcome Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Dwyane Wade, and San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich later this year, the group said on Saturday.

The Hall of Fame announced that Becky Hammon, a pioneering WNBA player and coach, will be a part of the star-studded class of 2023. They will be inducted at a ceremony in August.


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Gasol, who used to play for the Los Angeles Lakers, and Parker, who is from France, are three of the most successful international players to ever play in the NBA.


Parker won four NBA titles while the Spurs were the best team in the league from 2003 to 2014. Gasol was a key part of the Lakers' back-to-back championship teams in 2009 and 2010.

Nowitzki has scored 31,560 points, which puts him sixth on the NBA's all-time list. He was named NBA Most Valuable Player in 2007 and Finals MVP four years later after helping the Dallas Mavericks win the championship.


In response to the news on Saturday, Nowitzki paid tribute to the international players who had come to the NBA before his generation.


Nowitzki said, "I think there were a few guys who helped pave the way for us a little bit." "Then Pau, Tony, and I came along, and if we can help make the game truly global and help some kids along the way, that's a very humbling thing for all of us," he said.


Gasol, who was born in Barcelona, talked about how seeing the US "Dream Team" at the 1992 Olympics, which were held in his hometown, inspired him to become a basketball player.


Gasol told ESPN, "I always thought about how 'Dream Team '92' changed my life and how basketball and sports can change and inspire kids' lives. I just wanted to do that."


People had doubts about Parker's ability to be successful in the NBA because he was 6ft 2in (1.88m) tall.


"When I was a kid, the NBA was a very far-off dream," Parker said.


"When I told people my dream, they laughed at me and said, 'You're too small, you're too skinny, you'll never make it in the NBA.' Now I'm the one laughing."


Wade won three NBA titles with the Miami Heat in 2006, 2012, and 2013. In 2006, he was named Finals MVP.


The 41-year-old player, who left the NBA in 2019, also won an Olympic gold medal with the U.S. team in 2008.


Popovich, who is 74 years old, is one of the NBA's elder statesmen. He is one of only five coaches in NBA history to have won five championships.


"Getting out of your body"

Popovich also led the U.S. to gold at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, which were put off because of a pandemic.

Popovich said in a recorded message on ESPN on Saturday, "It's amazing that we're in this position."

"It's an honor, and it's not something you think about when you're playing this game for a long time. It's a great thought to think about all the players I've had the honor to coach who have won games.


"I'm sitting here with people I've always looked up to. So being in this situation is kind of like leaving your body."

Nowitzki, Wade, Parker, Gasol, and Popovich are all being inducted into the basketball hall of fame on their first try. This is a rare occurrence according to the rules of the Hall of Fame, and it shows how well they did in the sport.

Ex-assistant Hammon will join Popovich in the Hall of Fame.

Hammon has been an All-Star six times, and she led the Las Vegas Aces to the WNBA Finals title in 2022. The 46-year-old was also Popovich's assistant coach in San Antonio from 2014 to 2016, making her the first woman assistant coach in the NBA.

She is the only woman who has ever been in charge of an NBA team during a regular season game. She did this in 2020 when Popovich was thrown out of a game against the Lakers.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES