Doc Rivers, Amar'e Stoudemire, Candace Parker, Mike D'Antoni, Elena Delle Donne, Chamique Holdsclaw, Mark Few and Joey Crawford officially became Hall of Famers Saturday, and the ceremony turned into a full reunion of basketball's last three decades. Rivers and Stoudemire got their moments first, and NBA's own account was posting the enshrinement clips as fast as they happened.
Congrats to Class of 2026 @Hoophall inductee, Doc Rivers! https://t.co/rhyv3duiDN
Rivers' induction landed just days after his tenure with the Milwaukee Bucks came to a mutual end, but nobody in Springfield was talking about that. Instead it was a Celtics reunion: Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, the core of the title team Rivers coached to Boston's 2008 championship and the franchise's first in 22 years, walked him up on stage as his presenters.
Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce welcome Doc Rivers on stage for his Hall of Fame speech 🙏🏽 (via @Hoophall) https://t.co/OPAtT5OrU6
Rivers leaned into the emotion of the night with some classic Doc self-deprecation, cracking that coaching wrecked his voice along the way. "This isn't my real voice. Coaching stole it from me," he told the crowd, adding he used to be able to actually sing before three decades on NBA sidelines took that from him too.
“My voice is already raspy... I want you guys to know a couple quick things. This isn’t my real voice. Coaching stole it from me... I swear I used to have a high voice and use to be able to really sing, can't do that anymore." Doc Rivers speaks on his 'raspy' voice during his @Hoophall enshrinement speech 😆 Watch the Class of 2026 Enshrinement Ceremony on NBA TV and the NBA App.
Stoudemire got his own spotlight a few minutes later, closing a 14-season career that took him from Phoenix to New York, Dallas and Miami, where he averaged 18.9 points and 7.8 rebounds a night with the Suns at his peak. His speech leaned on perseverance as the theme, tracing everything back to the first basketball his mom ever gave him, which he called his "best friend" and eventually his "therapist."
Congrats to Class of 2026 @Hoophall inductee, Amar'e Stoudemire! https://t.co/yPT3DXr2Ez
Candace Parker, a 3-time WNBA champion and 2-time MVP, closed the night on her own terms, cracking that "AI will always stand for Allen Iverson" no matter what today's alphabet-soup basketball world tries to make it mean. The line landed even harder because Iverson himself was one of her presenters, and their exchange on stage turned into the moment of the night.
"In '97, my brother got drafted and traded on Draft night to the Sixers." -throws basketball to Allen Iverson- "And this guy right here became his teammate... the dominance and the impact he has is still felt today... I am sorry I am blown away by you having a suit that has Parker on it." This moment between @alleniverson and @Candace_Parker during Parker's @Hoophall enshrinement speech 🥹
By the end of the night the building was stacked with Hall of Famers and future ones watching from the crowd, with James Harden, Garnett and Allen among the names sticking around to toast the new class. Eight new names go on the wall in Springfield, but the through-line of the night was simple: everybody who built the modern NBA showed up for the people who built it with them.