GLENDALE, ARIZ. — Lynx great Seimone Augustus will be one of 13 people enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this year.
The Class of 2024 was revealed at the men's Final Four on Saturday, and Augustus is the second member of the Lynx championship teams of the 2010s to be welcomed into the Hall of Fame. Lindsey Whalen was inducted in 2022.
Augustus, 39, spent 14 seasons with the Lynx and was part of all four WNBA championship teams in 2011, '13, '15 and '17. An eight-time All-Star and the Rookie of the Year in 2006, she was the WNBA Finals MVP in 2011, two years after she tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.
The 6-foot-0 guard played in college at Louisiana State, helping the Tigers to three Final Fours, before the Lynx made her the top pick in the 2006 WNBA draft. Augustus, who played from the Lynx from 2006 to 2019 before playing one final season with Los Angeles in 2020, stands 13th in WNBA history with 6,005 career points. Her No. 33 was retired by the Lynx in 2022.
The class also includes two recent NBA standouts in Vince Carter, who wowed the basketball world with his high-flying dunks for more than two decades, and Chauncey Billups, the former Timberwolves player was a clutch guard and Finals MVP for the Detroit Pistons.
Also going in is former Lakers, Grizzlies and Warriors executive Jerry West for the third time; he was already inducted as a player and as a member of the 1960 U.S. Olympic team. Bo Ryan, who won four Division III championships at Wisconsin-Platteville and was a four-time Big Ten Coach of the Year at Wisconsin, also got the call. The others are players Michael Cooper, Walter Davis, Dick Barnett and Michele Timms; coaches Charles Smith and Harley Redin; broadcaster/coach Doug Collins; and owner Herb Simon.
The 2024 class will be enshrined into the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., in August.
Carter, 47, was an eight-time All-Star and the NBA Rookie of the Year in 1999 with the Toronto Raptors. He had the longest career in NBA history, playing 22 seasons for the Raptors, Nets, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Hawks, Magic, Kings and Suns, and finished with 25,728 career points, good for 21st in league history.
He played in college at North Carolina under coach Dean Smith.
The 6-foot-6 guard's longevity in the game was legendary and he was a useful player deep into his 40s, hanging with players less than half his age. He averaged five points over 60 games at age 43 with the Hawks in his final season.
Billups, 47, was a five-time All-Star and won an NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. He was also the MVP of the Finals that season and is now the coach of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Billups was the third overall pick in the 1997 draft by the Boston Celtics, but his pro career was a little slow to develop. He eventually found a home in Detroit, making his first All-Star team in his ninth season.
Part of a balanced Pistons team that included Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince and Ben Wallace, Billups averaged 21 points and 5.2 assists per game in the 2004 Finals. They beat the Lakers in five games for the title.
The 85-year-old West was inducted as a contributor. The 14-time All-Star was inducted as a player in 1980. He spent more than 20 years as an executive for the Los Angeles Lakers — helping the franchise win eight championships over a span from 1980 to 2002 — and was also the general manager for the Memphis Grizzlies and an executive with the Golden State Warriors.
