Four-time NBA champion Manu Ginobili, five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway, three-time WNBA champion and two-time gold medalist Swin Cash, and five-time WNBA All-Star and four-time WNBA champion Lindsay Whalen highlighted the 13-member Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022 that was announced Saturday.
Other honorees included two-time NCAA Coach of the Year Bob Huggins, longtime NBA coach George Karl, longtime NBA referee Hugh Evans and former NCAA champion and WNBA Coach of the Year Marianne Stanley.
Along with those eight, six-time NBA All-Star Lou Hudson was elected by the Veterans Committee, six-time NBA All-Star and former coach Larry Costello and former coach Del Harris were elected by the Contributor Committee, former AIAW three-time All-American Theresa Shank-Grentz was selected by the Women's Veterans Committee, and Radivoj Korac, who once scored 99 points in a EuroLeague game, was chosen by the International Committee.
"The Class of 2022 is ripe with individuals who have had a significant historical impact on the game we love," Hall of Fame president and CEO John L. Doleva said in a statement. "We congratulate and thank them for everything they've done to better the sport and look forward to honoring them during Enshrinement this fall."
The enshrinement ceremony is set for Sept. 10 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Ginobili is one of two players, along with Bill Bradley, to win a EuroLeague title, an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal. Ginobili was a two-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA selection and the 2007-08 Sixth Man of the Year during his 16-year career with the San Antonio Spurs. He led his native Argentina to the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics.
"I was a part of two incredible teams; if it wasn't for being part of those two teams, I wouldn't be here,'' Ginobili said. "It's not just about individual accomplishments. I never won a scoring championship, an MVP or even [All-NBA] first team. I'm here because of my surroundings, of the players I played with, of the coaches I was coached [by] and the organizations. I know I've been very lucky.''
But Ginobili did leave his mark on the game in the way he employed lateral movement after picking up his dribble to get up shots in the paint. It became known as the "Eurostep," because Ginobili had played for a EuroLeague championship-winning team in Bologna, Italy, before coming to the NBA.
"I never saw that I created anything or brought anything new. I just played the only way I thought possible," Ginobili explained, bringing up the challenge of trying to score against 7-footer Shaquille O'Neal early in his career.
"I was not going to go over Shaq and dunk, I had to go around people,'' Ginobili said. "That's the way my skill set and physical abilities found to get to the rim. I've done it since I can remember."
Hardaway, who won gold at the 2000 Olympics, was a five-time All-NBA selection, earning first-team honors in 1996-97 and second-team honors on three occasions. He ranks in the top 20 all time in assists and 12th in assists per game.
Cash was a four-time WNBA All-Star. In addition to her WNBA titles and Olympic gold medals, she was a two-time NCAA champion at UConn, where she helped lead the Huskies to a perfect 39-0 mark in 2001-02. Cash was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame last year and currently serves as vice president of basketball operations for the New Orleans Pelicans.
Whalen, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was named to the WNBA first team in 2008, 2011 and 2013. She ranks third all-time in the WNBA in assists and led the league in the category five times. As a player at Minnesota, where she currently serves as head coach, Whalen led the Golden Gophers to the Final Four in 2004 and was named an All-American three times.
West Virginia coach Huggins has spent 39 seasons as a head coach with more than 900 career wins. He has led his teams to two Final Fours, once at Cincinnati and once with the Mountaineers.
Karl was an NBA head coach for 27 seasons and is sixth in career victories with 1,175. He led Seattle to the NBA Finals in 1996 and was named the NBA Coach of the Year in 2013 with the Denver Nuggets.
Evans officiated more than 1,900 regular-season games, 170 playoff games and 35 NBA Finals games over a 28-year career before stepping away from the court in 2001.
Stanley, currently the coach of the Indiana Fever, coached Old Dominion to an NCAA championship in 1984-85 and back-to-back AIAW titles in 1979 and 1980. She was named the WNBA Coach of the Year in 2002 with the Washington Mystics.
Hudson and Costello will both be inducted posthumously. Hudson played 11 seasons with the Hawks franchise and averaged 20.2 points over his 13-year NBA career. Costello was known as the last two-handed set shooter and led the NBA in free throw percentage twice.
Harris was the NBA Coach of the Year with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1994-95 as part of a coaching career that spanned more than 50 years. Shank-Grentz was a member of three consecutive AIAW national champions at Immaculata University from 1972 to '74.
Korac led Yugoslavia to a silver medal in the 1968 Olympics and FIBA World Cup silvers in 1963 and 1967. He holds the EuroLeague's single-game scoring mark with 99 points and was enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007. Korac died after a car crash in 1969.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.