Vince Carter, Seimone Augustus, Jerry West highlight Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024

Vince Carter, Seimone Augustus, Chauncey Billups, Michael Cooper, Walter Davis, Charles Smith, Dick Barnett, Harley Redin, Michele Timms, Herb Simon, Bo Ryan, Doug Collins, and Jerry West will be part of the 13-member Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024, which was announced on Saturday.

The 14 finalists for the 2024 Hall of Fame class were announced in February. Longtime Kansas women’s basketball coach Marian Washington was the only one to not be voted in this year.

Seimone Augustus (Player)

Over her 15-year WNBA career, Augustus won four league titles and was an eight-time All-Star. She averaged 15.4 points per game and won the 2006 Rookie of the Year and 2011 WNBA Finals MVP. Prior to turning pro, she helped the LSU Tigers to three consecutive Final Fours and was named winner of the Naismith College Player of the Year and Wooden Award in back-to-back seasons.

Chauncey Billups (Player)

Before he earned the nickname “Mr. Big Shot,” Billups excelled at Colorado, earning second-team All-American honors. He was later selected No. 3 overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1997 NBA Draft.

Billups played for the Celtics, Raptors, Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets before signing a five-year, $35 million contract to join the Detroit Pistons in 2002. He quickly settled in and was a pivotal player in guiding the franchise to its third NBA title in 2004, where he was also named NBA Finals MVP.

Billups, who is in his third season as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, would go back to the Nuggets in 2008 before finishing his career with the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers and a final two seasons with the Pistons.

A five-time All-Star, Billups averaged 15.2 points and 5.4 assists per game in his 1,043-game NBA career. His 89.4 free throw percentage is sixth best in NBA/ABA history. The Pistons and University of Colorado have both retired his number.

Vince Carter (Player)

A standout for three seasons at North Carolina, helping the Tar Heels reach back-to-back Final Fours. He was a first-round draft pick by the Golden State Warriors in 1998, then immediately dealt to the Toronto Raptors. Known as “Air Canada,” Carter delivered highlight-reel dunks on a regular basis and won the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest with one of the more memorable routines in the event’s history.

Carter was an NBA Rookie of the Year, an eight-time All-Star, and finished with an average of 16.7 points per night in a career that spanned eight teams. Internationally, he helped the United States win gold at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and the 2003 FIBA Americas Championship.

He is also the only NBA player to ever play in four different decades.

Michael Cooper (Player)

Named to eight NBA All-Defensive Teams, Cooper was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1987. He spent his entire 12-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers and won five NBA titles.

Dick Barnett (Player)

Barnett helped Tennessee A&I University become the first historically black school to win a men’s basketball title when they won three straight NAIA championships from 1957-59. Before getting into coaching, he played 14 seasons in the NBA and won two championships with the New York Knicks in 1970 and 1973. This is his second time being inducted after the Hall of Fame honored the Tennessee A&I University team in 2019.

Walter Davis (Player)

Davis spent most of his 15-year NBA career with the Phoenix Suns where he remains the franchise’s all-time leading scorer. A six-time All-Star, he was also won Rookie of the Year in 19178. Prior to coming to the NBA, he won a gold medal with the U.S. at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Michele Timms (Player)

Timms represented Australia over two decades, winning a bronze medal at the 1996 Olympics and silver at the 2000 Games in Sydney. She also was the first Australian, male or female, to play professional basketball internationally when she suited up for Germany’s Lotus München. During her five seasons playing for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, Timms helped them to a 1998 Finals appearance and was named an All-Star a year later. After retiring, she was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2003, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008, and the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2016.

Harley Redin (Coach)

Redin won 431 games guiding Wayland Baptist’s women’s basketball team in 18 seasons, winning six AAU national championships. Over that span, the team went undefeated twice and finished top-five 17 times. He would later coach the U.S. National Team in 1959, at the 1963 World Tournament, and at the 1971 Pan-American Games. In 1992, Redin was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and later was honored with the Naismith Award for Outstanding Contribution to the game of women’s basketball in 2000.

Bo Ryan (Coach)

A Wisconsin coaching legend, Ryan won 747 games over 32 seasons with the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and University of Wisconsin. Of those 747 victory, 364 came with the Badgers where he was named Big Ten Coach of the Year four times, won the four Big Ten regular-season championships and three Big Ten tournament titles. He led Wisconsin to two Final Four appearances. A four-time Division III champion with UW–Platteville, Ryan was a 2017 inductee into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

Charles Smith (Coach)

Louisiana’s all-time winningest high school head coach, Smith is only the fourth coach in the U.S. to win over 1,200 games. His teams have won eight state titles and he has guided teams to two 41-0 seasons in 2004 and 2010, when was named ESPN’s National Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2019 and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2021.

Doug Collins (Coach/broadcaster)

A four-time NBA All-Star as a player, Collins got into coaching and won 442 games in 849 games. He began his NBA coaching career with the Chicago Bulls during Michael Jordan’s third season and the two would later reunite with the Washington Wizards. Following his time as a coach Collins went into broadcasting and was an analyst for CBS, TNT, TBS, ABC/ESPN, and NBC, where he also worked Olympic coverage in 2008 and 2012.

Jerry West (Contributor)

This is the third time West, currently an executive board member and consultant with the Los Angeles Clippers, will be a Hall of Fame inductee. He’s already in as a player and as part of the 1960 Olympic gold medal-winning team. Now he goes in as a contributor to the game as one of the NBA’s most successful executives. West was vital in helping create the Los Angeles Lakers’ dynasties in the 1980s and 2000s by bringing in star power such as Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, James Worthy, and hiring head coach Phil Jackson.

West won eight NBA titles during his 21 years in the Lakers’ front office and was a two-time NBA Executive of the Year. After serving as Memphis Grizzlies general manager, he would join the Golden State Warriors as an executive board member with a minority ownership stake. There he would add two more championships to his already impressive resume.

Herb Simon (Owner)

As owner of the Indiana Pacers since 1983, Simon is the longest-tenured governor in league history. As leader of the franchise, the Pacers won six division titles and reached the 2000 NBA Finals.

The 2024 class will be inducted at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., on Aug. 16-17.