It’s summer for the NBA. Time for summer league action, post-season awards, and thinking about what’s to come in the fall then things tip off again. Ahh.. the cycle of hoops. As he often does, Shaq is out with another of his list-posts on social media. What’s it all about? Who’s on it? Stay tuned…
Through the history of the game, lots and lots of players in the NBA have definitely made their marks on the action. Plenty of those players have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Our man Shaq is certainly one of those players, having been inducted back in 2016.
Still, there’s a good number of players that were impactful on the game, but were not selected to the Hall. In a recent Instagram post, O’Neal listed his top 10 who – for one reason or another – never got the call from the HOF.
In case you don’t know, the selection process to the Hall of Fame takes into account a players time not just in the NBA, but also in college and while playing internationally. Of course that doesn’t apply to all players – some skipped college and many have never played overseas – but those avenues are open for players for HOF consideration.
You can check out Shaq’s IG post below for the full list. Here’s a quick look at some of the players on the list, and a bit of comment on each. Huge ShaqFu Radio Blog tip ‘o the hat to our friends at FadeAwayWorld.com for info and graphics for this story. Good work!
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At the top of the list is Rasheed Wallace, who played most of his career with the Portland Trail Blazers and Detroit Pistons. Across his career, he averaged 14.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game. He was a four-time All-Star who also won a championship in 2004.
Second on the list, Shaq wrote down his old Orlando Magic teammate, Penny Hardaway. Career stats: 15.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.6 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game. He was a four-time All-Star, and he was on the gold medal-winning hoops team in the 1996 Olympics. Perhaps his issues with injuries prevented him from ever hitting superstar status.
For Hardaway, there’s still a chance he’ll get the call and join the Hall of Fame roster. After all these years, he was finally nominated this past year, so there’s still opportunities for him to be selected. That would no doubt bring a smile to his old friend’s face.
Speaking of guys O’Neal played with, Horace Grant also makes the list. His lifetime stats weren’t that great; 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game. He did win four NBA Championships in his time with the Chicago Bulls, and he was named a league All-Star once. But like Wallace, there’s no Olympic gold or college titles to help make his HOF case.
Better stats, but also not in the Hall… Bill Laimbeer. With most of his time with Detroit, his career stats finished with 12.9 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game. Laimbeer was a four-time All-Star and won two titles, but his story is similar to that of Grant and Wallace in the sense he never won in college or international competition. Like Hardaway, Laimbeer was a nominee for the first time this year, and might still make the HOF.
There’s more, of course, including Shawn Kemp, the late Cliff Robinson, Robert Horry and more. Check out the full list for yourself, and feel free to chime in on others you feel should be HOF materia.. Or perhaps some already in the Hall who you feel don’t deserve the honor.