Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard are the largest NBA names selected as finalists for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class 2025.
On the WNBA side, superstars Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles have also been appointed as finalists.
Coaches Billy Donovan and Mark Weights also made the cut. The USA ‘Redeem team’ of 2008 has also been nominated as a whole. Both Anthony and Howard were members of that team.
After this will be the final round of the nomination process, with a panel of 24 anonymous voters considering the candidacy of every finalist. At least 18 of the 24 panel members have to vote for a candidate for that finalist to earn election at the Hall of Fame.
The 2025 class will be announced on 5 April in San Antonio during the NCAA Men’s Final Four.
That will be followed, the Enshrinement weekend on 5 and 6 September.
Carmelo, Dwight No-Brainers?
Anthony is a 10-time All-Star, has made the All-NBA team six times, has one score title and is a member of the 75-year anniversary team of the NBA.
The Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks legend is currently the 10th score leader of the NBA with 28,289 points. During his student days, Anthony also led Syracuse to a national championship in 2003.
In the meantime, Howard played for the Orlando Magic. He made eight All-Star teams and eight all-NBA teams. Moreover, he is a triple defensive player of the year, a five-time all-defensive team member, a five-time rebound champion and a double block leader.
Above all, he won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020.
Vogel, Moore, Fowles CVs speak for themselves
Bird played her entire 19-year-old WNBA career as a member of the Seattle Storm after selected her first general in the 2002 design. During that time she won four WNBA titles, she made 13 All-Star Teams, eight All-Wnba teams and was a triple assist leader.
She is the only WNBA player in history who has played at least 550 regular season matches. She ended with 580.
If that was not enough, Bird also won four Olympic gold medals with Team USA and two national championships with UConn.
Moore’s seven-year career at the Minnesota Lynx saw her make the All-Star team six times and an all-wnba team seven times. She won four WNBA titles, one final MVP and three All-Star Game MVPs. She also won the regular MVP trophy of 2014. Moreover, Moore won the score title that year and made two all -defensive teams to start up.
She won two Olympic gold medals during her time at Team USA. Moore also won two national championships during her student days at the University of Connecticut. Moore withdrew abruptly during her prime to pursue the reform of criminal law.
Fowles played for both the Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx and collected many award. She was the MVP 2017, made eight all-star teams, eight all-wnba teams and 11 all-defensive teams. Fowles won two WNBA titles and won the MVP final on both occasions.
Just like Bird, Fowles has four Olympic gold medals.
