SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne used their Hall of Fame speeches to serve as a love letter to basketball.
The sport has given so much to them, culminating with enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday night.
Parker carried a ball to the podium for her speech as part of the 2026 class that also included the 1996 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team, Chamique Holdsclaw, NBA player Amar’e Stoudemire, longtime NBA official Joey Crawford, NBA coaches Doc Rivers and Mike D’Antoni, and Gonzaga coach Mark Few.
“It felt weird to walk on the stage without the reason I’m here today,” Parker said, talking to the ball. “We did a lot together: dunk on UConn at UConn, shimmied over our right shoulder and hit that sick fadeaway, had our own signature shoe, first woman to grace the cover of NBA 2K. … We stand on this podium as first-ballot Hall of Famers.”
Parker, who won three WNBA titles, two MVPs, a pair of championships at Tennessee and two Olympic gold medals, then broke down while closing her speech, saying that “we were meant to be a love story that began 27 years ago.”
Delle Donne also used her speech as a love letter to the game with all the ups and downs she faced in her career. But she always kept life in perspective, thanks to her older sister, Lizzie, who is blind and deaf.
“She never played in front of thousands of people, never had a standing ovation, never been interviewed after a big win. Yet, I’ve never met anyone stronger,” Delle Donne said, choking up. “Thank you all for keeping me going.”
Delle Donne won MVP awards in 2015 and 2019, the second of which came when she led the Washington Mystics to their lone WNBA championship. Delle Donne became the first player in league history to shoot more than 50% from the field, 40% from behind the 3-point line and 90% from the free throw line.
She started her speech by giving a shoutout to actor Larry David, who was in the audience. She told him that she hoped her speech was “pretty, pretty, pretty good,” using David’s signature line. Delle Donne was introduced to him before the ceremony by Rivers.
Rivers won 1,194 regular-season games as an NBA coach, the sixth most in league history. He was emotional while talking about his brother Grady, who inspired him to be a better player.
Holdsclaw thanked all of her former teammates and coaches in her acceptance speech. She was best known for helping Tennessee win three straight titles from 1996 to 1998, the first team to accomplish that, under Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt.
Summitt died in 2016 after a battle with Alzheimer’s.
“One person that I wish was here as my presenter was my demanding and wonderfully supporting college coach, Pat Summitt,” Holdsclaw said. “The one and only Coach Summitt allowed me to grow as a player and person. I miss her dearly.”
Holdsclaw helped Tennessee to its first undefeated season at 39-0 in 1997-98, and the Lady Vols also set an NCAA record for the most wins in a season at that time. Holdsclaw went on to have an 11-year WNBA career.
She also thanked the 1996 Olympic team, saying she had posters of those players on her wall when she was in high school.
That team helped start the Americans’ 30-year Olympic dominance that has included the U.S. winning eight straight gold medals.
Few has been Gonzaga’s coach since 1999 and has led the program to the men’s NCAA tournament every year. He has won numerous West Coast Conference championships and reached the NCAA title game twice.
“What a crazy, surreal moment for me,” Few said. “The town I grew up in had a population of 1,500 people and had one stoplight. To be standing where I am today is absolutely mind-boggling.”
Crawford officiated more than 2,500 regular-season games in the NBA, nearly 400 more in the postseason and 50 of those were in the NBA Finals during his 39-year career. He said he first dreamed of officiating in the NBA when he was a teenager and did everything he could to make that possible.
D’Antoni really came into his own as a player and coach in Italy before he returned to the NBA. He developed a fast-paced style with the Phoenix Suns, led by fellow inductee Stoudemire.
