Among the nine inducted on Saturday were former Minnesota Timberwolves and Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett and San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan apart from Kobe Bryant.
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The much-anticipated class of 2020 was finally enshrined in a ceremony at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday. Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers legend who died tragically last year, became the first official inductee in the NBA Hall of Fame. Bryant is considered as one of the greatest basketball players of all time and the ceremony witnessed a touching tribute to him.
Boasting arguably the most star-studded enshrinee in history, the nine-person class was headlined by Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan. They were joined by Tamika Catchings, Eddie Sutton, Rudy Tomjanovich, Kim Mulkey, Barbara Stevens and Patrick Baumann.
All eyes were going to be on Bryant in this ceremony. The Los Angeles Lakers icon was voted into the Hall of Fame two months after his death in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020.
“I wish my husband was here to accept this incredible award,” Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, said at the ceremony. She was joined onstage by basketball legend Michael Jordan. “He and Gigi deserved to be here to witness this. Gigi would be so proud to watch her daddy get enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame.”
The NBA legend was posthumously selected into the Hall of Fame last April. This happened just months after Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven other people were killed in a helicopter crash.
“There will never be anyone like Kobe,” Vanessa Bryant said. “Kobe was one of a kind. He was special, he was humble — off the court — but bigger than life.”
Among the nine inducted on Saturday were former Minnesota Timberwolves and Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett and San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan, who reminisced on playing against his Hall of Fame classmates Garnett and Bryant.
“You’re at your best, when you face the best,” Duncan said. “I want to say thank you to the late, great Kobe Bryant, to KG. You guys demanded the best out of me, and it brought the best out of me. Thank you, guys.”
Among the others inducted were coaches Kim Mulkey, Barbara Stevens, Eddie Sutton and Rudy Tomjanovich.
Even though it took longer than expected to hold the ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 class finally got its much-deserved moment of glory.
