CHAUNCEY Billups and Vince Carter were among those enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts on Sunday night (Monday in Manila).
Billups and Carter headlined a 2024 class that featured 13 inductees, seven who went into the Hall of Fame as players. Both Billups and Carter were members of that group, which also included Michael Cooper, Walter Davis, Seimone Augustus, Dick Barnett and Michele Timms.
Bo Ryan, Charles Smith and Harley Redin joined the Class of 2024 as coaches, while Doug Collins, Herb Simon and Jerry West were selected as contributors.
West, who died in June at the age of 86, had already landed in the Hall of Fame as a player and an Olympian. He is the first-ever three-time inductee in Springfield.
Billups, 48, spent 17 seasons in the NBA, appearing in 1,043 games (937 starts) for the Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers, Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks.
A five-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA selection and the MVP of the 2004 Finals, Billups sported career averages of 15.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists. He is currently coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, a role he has held since the 2021-22 campaign.
The 47-year-old Carter played for eight teams across his 22 NBA seasons, averaging 16.7 points, 4.3 boards and 3.1 assists in 1,541 games (982 starts). He was named Rookie of the Year at the end of the 1998-99 season while with the Raptors and went on to earn eight All-Star selections.
Cooper, 68, was known for his defensive prowess with the “Showtime” Lakers. He spent all 12 of his NBA seasons in Los Angeles, where he was part of five championship teams. Cooper was an eight-time All-Defensive selection and was named Defensive Player of the Year during the 1986-87 campaign.
The 1978 Rookie of the Year, Davis, who was 69 when he died in November 2023, was with the Phoenix Suns for 11 of his 15 NBA seasons. He also spent time with the Nuggets and Blazers, averaging 18.9 points in 1,033 games (373 starts) in all.
Davis was a six-time All-Star.
Barnett, 88, had a 14-year career with the Knicks, Lakers and Syracuse Nationals. He was a two-time NBA champion who averaged 15.8 points per game for his career.
Augustus, 40, posted 15.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game during a 15-year WNBA career with the Minnesota Lynx (2006-19) and Los Angeles Sparks (2020). After being named Rookie of the Year in 2006, she won four titles, one of which came in 2011, when she was named Finals MVP.
Although the 59-year-old Timms also played at a high level in the WNBA– earning one All-Star selection during her five seasons with the Phoenix Mercury– she made more noise on the global basketball circuit.