Posted March 31, 2018 from ESPN
Jason Kidd, Steve Nash and Grant Hill have been notified of their election into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2018, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
The full 2018 Hall of Fame class will be revealed Saturday (ESPN2, noon ET) from the site of the men's Final Four in San Antonio.
Maurice Cheeks will also be inducted, sources told Wojnarowski, as will longtime executive Rod Thorn and WNBA legend Tina Thompson, sources told ESPN.
Kidd and Nash rank second and third, respectively, in career assists, behind Hall of Famer John Stockton. Kidd, who ranks third in NBA history with 107 triple-doubles, was a 10-time All-Star and won a championship with the 2010-11 Dallas Mavericks. Nash, one of 12 players to win two MVP awards, was an eight-time All-Star.
Nash made the All-NBA first team three times during his 18-year career with the Phoenix Suns, Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers, and helped to energize the development of the sport in Canada with his freewheeling style. He was also a two-time West Coast Conference Player of the Year in 1995-96 at Santa Clara and engineered a memorable upset of second-seeded Arizona in the NCAA tournament.
Most recently, Nash has been serving as a player development consultant for the Warriors. Golden State star Kevin Durant lauded Nash's work and nomination when asked about it Thursday.
"His basketball mind is probably the best I've been around," Durant said.
"So many people taught me how to play, and he's continued to teach me different things that I can put in my game, and I'm grateful for that. I'm happy for him."
Kidd shared NBA Rookie of the Year honors with Hill for 1994-95 season, setting the stage for a 19-year career in which Kidd made the All-NBA first team five times and All-Defensive first team four times. He is second all time with 2,684 steals; only Stockton has more.
Kidd was named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year in 1993 and Pac-10 Player of the Year in 1994 during his two seasons at California. He won gold medals with the United States at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Hill was a two-time national champion and two-time All-American at Duke, but injuries kept him from reaching the same heights in the NBA during his 19-year career. He still made seven All-Star appearances, was an All-NBA first team honoree in 1996-97 and won a gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.
Cheeks was the starting point guard for the 1983 champion Philadelphia 76ers and was both a four-time All-Star and first-team All-Defensive selection. At the time of his retirement in 1993, he was the all-time leader in steals, averaging more than two per game for his career.
Thorn was a longtime executive at the league and team level and will be inducted into the Hall as a contributor to the game.
Thompson is a four-time WNBA champion, nine-time All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist. She is the WNBA's second all-time leading scorer and currently associate head coach of the Texas Longhorns.
Other finalists for induction into the Hall of Fame are Ray Allen, Chris Webber, Charles "Lefty" Driesell, Rudy Tomjanovich, Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, Katie Smith, longtime NBA official Hugh Evans and the 1953-58 Wayland Baptist University teams.
During his visit to ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut, on Thursday, Allen said he had not heard whether he had made the Hall of Fame.
Asked what the honor would mean to him, Allen said: "It would be the culmination of my whole life, everything coming together."
