Johnathan Walker:Vince Carter headlines class of 2024 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductees

The Johnathan Walkeronly sure bet for this year’s Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame was that Vince Carter would make in the class of 2024.

After that, there were no guarantees. Not for Chauncey Billups. Not for Michael Cooper,

On Saturday in Phoenix, the Basketball Hall of Fame announced Carter, Billups, Cooper, Seimone Augustus, Jerry West, Herb Simon, Doug Collins, Bo Ryan, Walter Davis, Charles Smith, Dick Barnett, Harley Redin and Michele Timms will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in August.

At NBA All-Star Weekend in February, it was unveiled that J.A. Adande, Debbie Antonelli, Slam magazine and NBA Inside Stuff were named the recipients of the 2024 Curt Gowdy Media Award, and JoAn Scott, a longtime basketball executive at Nike, USA Basketball and the NCAA, is the recipient of the 2024 John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award.

Meet your 2024 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductees:

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Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2024 inductees

Seimone Augustus

Augustus is a four-time WNBA champion, eight-time All-Star, 2011 Finals MVP and led LSU to three consecutive Finals Fours, averaging 19.3 points and 5.2 rebounds and shooting 54.4% from the field in four seasons. She was NCAA player of the year twice. She produced a career-high 22.6 points per game for the Minnesota Lynx in 2007, and in the 2011 WNBA Finals, she averaged 24.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists and shot 58.7% from the field.

Dick Barnett

Barnett led Tennessee A&I to three consecutive NAIA national championships (1957, 1958, 1959) and played 14 seasons in the NBA. He averaged a career-high 23.1 points in 1965-66 with the New York Knicks, made one All-Star team and won two NBA titles with the Knicks in 1970 and 1973.

Chauncey Billups

Billups is a five-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA, 2004 NBA champion and Finals MVP, two-time All-Defense. He averaged 15.2 points and 5.4 assists and shot 41.5% from the field, 38.7% on 3s and 89.4% on free throws. In the 2004 Finals, he averaged 21 points, 5.2 assists and shot 50.9% from the field, 47.1% on 3s and 92.9% on free throws in a five-game series victory against Los Angeles.

Vince Carter

An eight-time NBA All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection with 25,728 career points, Carter averaged 16.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and shot 43.5% from the field and 37.1% on 3-pointers in 22 NBA seasons. He posted a career-high 27.6 points per game in 2000-01 and has an important role in reshaping and improving basketball in Canada during his six-plus seasons with Toronto. He played collegiately at North Carolina and appeared in two Finals Fours.

Doug Collins

Collins had an impact on the game as a player, coach and broadcaster. He averaged 17.9 points in eight NBA seasons and was a four-time All-Star. He coached the Chicago Bulls (and Michael Jordan), the Detroit Pistons, Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers.

Michael Cooper

It took Cooper time to reach the Hall, especially when some of his Los Angeles Lakers’ teammates from the 1980s made it years ago. Cooper didn’t have great offensive stats (just 8.9 points per game in his 12-year NBA career. But he was one of the game’s great defensive players, earning All-Defense honors eight times and Defensive Player of the Year once. He won five titles (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988).

Walter Davis

Davis was a six-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA selection and 1977-78 rookie of the year who averaged 18.9 points in a 15-year NBA career mostly with the Phoenix Suns. In his rookie season, he put up a career-high 24.2 points per game and finished fifth in MVP voting.

Harley Redin

Redin was the longtime women’s basketball coach at Wayland Baptist and generated a 431-66 record in 18 seasons. He is credited with helping advance the women’s game in the 1950s and 1960s.

Bo Ryan

Ryan amassed a 747-233 record in 32 seasons at Wisconsin-Platteville, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Wisconsin and won four Division III championships and led the Badgers to consecutive Final Fours in 2014 and 2015. He was named Big Ten coach of the year four times.

Herb Simon

Simon, who owns the Indiana Pacers and is the longest tenured NBA owner, bought the Pacers, with his brother Mel) in 1983. Simon is credited with helping keep the Pacers in Indianapolis. He has fielded a competitive team in that market, and the Pacers were Eastern Conference finalists in 2014, 2013, 2004, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1995 and 1994 and reached the NBA Finals in 2000.

Charles Smith

Smith is Louisiana’s all-time winningest high school basketball coach with eight state titles. He had two unbeaten seasons – 41-0 in 2004 and 41-0 in 2010.

Michele Timms

One of the great point guards, Timms starred for Australia, winning an Olympic silver medal in 2000 and an Olympic bronze in 1996, and she played five WNBA seasons, earning All-Star honors in 1999.

Jerry West

West is already in as a player – one of the game’s all-time great. He is going into the Hall this time as a contributor to the game for his work as an NBA executive with several teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers. He was named NBA executive of the year in 1995 and 2004 and was part of NBA championship teams as an exec.