The 2023 Hall of Fame finalists are all linked to each other.
Becky Hammon spent half of her career playing with the San Antonio Silver Stars and is now the Las Vegas Aces (formerly the San Antonio Stars) head coach.
But as she was getting her feet wet in the world of coaching, she assisted Gregg Popovich on his coaching staff with the San Antonio Spurs from 2014 to 2022.
Popovich coached Tony Parker for pretty much his entire career.
Parker’s and Dwyane Wade’s teams were rivals and had heated battles multiple times in the NBA Finals in 2013 and 2014.
The story is the same with Wade and Dirk Nowitzki. They played each other for the NBA championship early in Wade’s career (2006), where Wade led the Heat to victory.
Then, a few years later, in 2011, Nowitzki led the Dallas Mavericks back to the Finals, where he demolished the Heat for the NBA Championship.
And while he was on his path to do this, Dirk had to run through Pau Gasol and the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Semifinals, preventing Pau from getting his first 3-peat.
A few years after this defeat, Gasol joined the Spurs where he was coached by none other than Popovich and Hammon from 2016 to 2019. He also played with Parker during these seasons as well.
See, they are all connected.
Anywhoo, a formal announcement of the Hall of Fame finalists is expected to be made this weekend at the Final Four in Houston.
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