Finalists for the 2019 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class were announced Friday as the NBA kicked off All-Star Weekend, headlined by new nominees Marques Johnson, Jack Sikma, Ben Wallace and Paul Westphal.
Johnson, a five-time All-Star and 1979 national collegiate player of the year, averaged 20.1 points and 7.0 rebounds per game over 11 seasons. Sikma, a Seattle SuperSonics great, was a seven-time All-Star and 1979 NBA champion. Wallace, a four-time All-Star, was named Defensive Player of the Year four times and won a championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. Westphal was a five-time All-Star and part of the 1974 NBA champion Boston Celtics.
Previous finalists included again are coach Leta Andrews (retired in 2014 as the all-time winningest high school coach male or female, with 1,416 wins), referee Hugh Evans (officiated more than 2,200 games) two-time NBA champion coach Bill Fitch, Bobby Jones (eight selections to first team All-Defense), five-time All-Star Sidney Moncrief, five-time Division II coach of the year Barbara Stevens, four-time national coach of the year Eddie Sutton, five-time WNBA All-Star Theresa Weatherspoon and five-time All-Star Chris Webber.
Also announced: Coach Del Harris and founding Portland Trail Blazers owner Harry Glickman were honored with the John Dunn Lifetime Achievement Award; and journalist Marc Stein and legendary Clippers announcer Ralph Lawler were named the Curt Gowdy Media Award winners.
The 2019 Hall of Fame class will be announced at the men’s Final Four in Minneapolis in April. To make the Hall of Fame, a finalist needs 18 of 24 votes from the Honors Committee.