Allen Iverson Among 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame Presenters

Presenters for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2023 were announced on Wednesday, as 11 players and coaches, along with the 1976 women’s Olympic basketball team, are set for induction. 

Dirk Nowitzki, an MVP and NBA champion with the Dallas Mavericks, will be presented by former teammates Jason Kidd and Steve Nash. Kidd was Dallas’s starting point guard during the Mavs’ 2011 championship season. 

Three-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade, who played the majority of his career with the Miami Heat, chose former Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson as his presenter. Wade says Iverson, a six-year veteran when Wade was drafted in 2003, is the reason he wore jersey No. 3 during his career. 

Tony Parker, a four-time champion and 2007 Finals MVP with the San Antonio Spurs, will be presented by former teammates and fellow Hall of Famers Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. Then, Parker will join Duncan, Ginobili and Hall of Fame Spurs center David Robinson as they induct Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. 

Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon, a former assistant under Popovich, is being inducted as a player. Her presenters will be WNBA legends Sheryl Swoopes and Teresa Weatherspoon. Weatherspoon, along with Hall of Fame women's basketball coach Van Chancellor, will also present former Texas A&M women’s basketball coach Gary Blair. 

Pau Gasol, a two-time champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, will be presented by another European great, Toni Kukoč, a three-time Euroleague champion who later won three NBA rings with the Chicago Bulls. 

Gasol’s preferred presenter had been former teammate the late Kobe Bryant, whose children consider Gasol their uncle. “My name, my number don’t go into those rafters without those championships,” Gasol told NBA.com’s Shaun Powell in February. “And we don’t win those championships without Kobe Bryant. He’ll always be with me, in every moment, not just basketball moments.”

The 1976 Women’s Olympic Basketball Team will be presented by Ann Meyers and Nancy Lieberman, individual Hall of Fame inductees who played on the silver-medal-winning team.

Jim Valvano, the longtime North Carolina State head coach who won a national championship in 1983, will be posthumously inducted by University of Kentucky head coach John Calipari. Calipari, along with former University of Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun, will also present longtime Amherst College head coach David Hixon. 

Former Kansas University and University of North Carolina head coach Roy Williams will join Calipari and Hall of Fame forward Chris Bosh to present former junior college coach Gene Bess. Hall of Fame executive Jerry Colangelo and Michigan State coach Tom Izzo will present former Purdue head coach Gene Keady.

The 2023 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony will take place on Aug. 12 at 8 p.m. from Symphony Hall in Springfield, MA. The ceremony will be broadcast on NBA TV.