One was perhaps the most dominant small player in NBA history, the other rated among the largest. Now both appear bound for basketball immortality.
Allen Iverson and Shaquille O’Neal have been named to the list of 14 finalists for the Basketball Hall of Fame, the Massachusetts museum announced on Friday.
The former NBA Most Valuable Player Award winners – O’Neal won it in 2000, Iverson in 2001 – headline a list that includes legendary coaches Tom Izzo, Eddie Sutton, Lefty Driesell, Bo Ryan and Muffet McGraw. Three-time Olympic gold medalist Sheryl Swoopes, a three-time WNBA MVP who was the first player signed in the league’s history, was also named.
Yao Ming, the 7ft 6in center from Shanghai who went No1 in the 2002 NBA draft and made eight NBA All-Star teams with the Houston Rockets, was already a finalist and could be elected directly by the International Committee.
Others on the list of finalists include three-time NBA All-Star guard Kevin Johnson, coaches John McLendon, Leta Andrews and Robert Hughes, referee Darrell Garretson and the 1954-58 Wayland Baptist University team, who won 131 straight games.
The inductees will be announced at the Final Four in Houston on 4 April.
