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Paul Pierce, Chris Bosh and Full 2021 Basketball Hall of Fame Class Revealed

Jenna Ciccotelli

The latest inductees to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame have been revealed. 

The class of 2021 was revealed a day after the class of 2020 was inducted. The ceremonies for both classes were moved from the hall itself, in Springfield, Massachusetts, to the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, per the Associated Press

The 2021 class was selected from 14 finalists. 

Pierce and Bosh were selected to the Hall as first-time finalists. Pierce, the 10-time All-Star and 2008 Finals MVP with the Boston Celtics, and Bosh, a two-time champion and 11-time All-Star, headline a group that also includes five-time All-NBA selection Chris Webber and four-time Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace, both of whom had been on the ballot in the past. 

Toni Kukoc, who won three NBA championships and was a three-time EuroLeague champion, was chosen by the Hall of Fame's International Committee.

Russell, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1975, was honored for his legendary coaching career. He was the first Black head coach in the NBA and continued to blaze the trail by becoming the first Black head coach to win a title (with the Boston Celtics in 1967-68). 

He joins Villanova head coach Jay Wright, a two-time NCAA champion, and Rick Adelman, the ninth-winningest coach in NBA history (1,042 wins). 

Yolanda Griffith, a seven-time WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist, and Lauren Jackson, a two-time champion and three-time MVP, will represent the WNBA in the class of 2021. 

The class also includes a number of contributors and inductees in other categories: 

Val Ackerman, the WNBA's founding president and the first female president of USA Basketball, headlines the group of contributors inducted with the class of 2021, while Clarence Jenkins was posthumously recognized as an Early African-American Pioneer.

The class of 2020 was punctuated by the enshrinement of the late Kobe Bryant as well as Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, among others.

   

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