The 11 NBA players on the Basketball Hall of Fame's waiting list

This year's Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class is dominated by the WNBA: Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne and Chamique Holdsclaw will don the coveted orange jackets during Friday's enshrinement ceremony, while six-time All-Star and 14-year veteran Amar'e Stoudemire will be the only NBA player inductee. Looking ahead, the NBA should boast deeper Hall of Fame classes over the next three years. While ageless stars LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant keep pushing off retirement, a bunch of 2010s-era standouts are ready for consideration, including two no-brainer first-ballot selections. Let's examine 11 potential candidates for the next three Hall of Fame classes. Remember, Hall rules require that NBA players "must be fully retired for three full seasons before being eligible." LaMarcus Aldridge Eligible: Now Aldridge should feel great about Stoudemire's induction. Although Aldridge wasn't a regular on highlight reels like high-flying contemporaries Stoudemire and Blake Griffin, the midrange maestro quietly went about his business and accumulated more than 20,000 career points and 8,000 career rebounds in his 16-year career. That's rare air: Antawn Jamison is the only other retired player to hit those benchmarks who isn't a Hall of Famer, and LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the only active players in the 20,000/8,000 club. Aldridge's career averages (19.1 points per game, 8.1 rebounds per game, 20.7 player efficiency rating) are right there with Stoudemire's numbers (18.9 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 21.8 PER), and he maintained them while playing nearly 10,000 more minutes than the former Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks star. While Aldridge never won a ring with the Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs or Brooklyn Nets, he earned seven All-Star nods and racked up 115.6 career win shares -- far more than either Stoudemire or Griffin, who was a 2026 Hall finalist. Marc Gasol Eligible: Now Gasol didn't make the cut this year despite being an international nominee, but the Spanish center should be joining his brother Pau, a 2023 inductee, before long. Gasol's combined NBA and international résumé is simply too decorated to snub: A 2019 NBA championship with the Toronto Raptors, a 2013 Defensive Player of the Year award with the Memphis Grizzlies, and three All-Star selections, plus two Olympic silver medals, two FIBA World Cup gold medals and five EuroBasket medals as part of Spain's "Golden Generation." Add it all up, and Gasol joins Nikola Jokic, Manu Ginobili and Draymond Green among the most accomplished second-round picks in NBA history. Blake Griffin Eligible: Now The former LA Clippers and Detroit Pistons star was a finalist for the 2026 class but came up short in his first year of eligibility. However, Stoudemire's induction virtually guarantees that Griffin will join him in the near future. The parallels between the two athletic power forwards are eerie: They both won Rookie of the Year, made six All-Star teams and earned five All-NBA selections before knee injuries took their toll. Meanwhile, Griffin's career numbers (19.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 21.0 PER) mirror Stoudemire's output. Because Griffin's résumé lacked a championship, Olympic gold medal or MVP, it's understandable why he wasn't a first-ballot selection. Still, the 2009 first overall pick helped transform the "Lob City" Clippers into the NBA's most entertaining team and ushered in a new era for the dunk contest in 2011 by jumping over a car. Andre Iguodala Eligible: Now The weakest part of Iguodala's Hall of Fame case is his modest box score numbers: 11.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. Those basic statistics hardly tell the story of a remarkable career that included four championships with the Golden State Warriors, a 2016 Finals MVP, two All-Defensive selections, a 2012 Olympic gold medal and a stint as executive director of the National Basketball Players Association. Iguodala's willingness to sacrifice a starting spot when he joined Stephen Curry's Warriors in 2013 helped power the franchise to six Finals appearances between 2015 and 2022. The 2004 lottery pick played a vital role as a versatile defender, pass-first initiator and coach on the floor, and Golden State wasted no time retiring his No. 9 jersey in Feb. 2025. Former Los Angeles Lakers guard Michael Cooper's 2024 induction set a clear precedent for Iguodala to become a Hall of Famer: There's a path to Springfield for an irreplaceable role player on a dynastic team, even if his statistical body of work leaves something to be desired. Joe Johnson Eligible: Now Johnson, who came out of retirement to play one game for the Boston Celtics in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, was a first-time nominee for the Hall this year. This is classic Hall of Fame debate territory: Was the no-nonsense 6-foot-7 scorer great or merely very good? Johnson's peak came with the Atlanta Hawks when he averaged more than 20 points per game for five straight years and was an All-Star Game regular. All told, he earned seven All-Star nods and reached the playoffs every year from 2008 to 2018. While Johnson earned a reputation for hitting game winners and buzzer-beaters, he's on the Hall of Fame bubble because he reached the conference finals only twice -- early in his career with the Phoenix Suns and toward the end as a reserve for the Houston Rockets. Unfortunately for Johnson, his prime years lined up almost perfectly with LeBron James' dominance of the Eastern Conference. Still, Johnson is one of 18 NBA players who has compiled more than 20,000 points, 5,000 rebounds and 5,000 assists. DeMar DeRozan is the only other member of that club whose Hall of Fame case is debatable; the rest are already in or no-brainer selections. Kyle Lowry Eligible: 2029 Lowry was hardly on a Hall of Fame trajectory when he was a late first-round pick out of Villanova in 2006. The feisty 6-foot point guard spent his first two seasons coming off the bench for the Memphis Grizzlies and was traded to the Houston Rockets midway through his third season. Lowry eventually found a home with the Toronto Raptors, earning his first of six consecutive All-Star selections in 2015 before helping Kawhi Leonard lead the franchise to its first championship in 2019. After Chris Bosh's sudden departure in 2010, Lowry transformed the Raptors into a perennial playoff team with his competitive style of play, shotmaking skills and ability to control the action as a floor general. Lowry's late-blooming narrative arc recalls Chauncey Billups, who was a 2024 Hall inductee. Lowry stretched his career to two full decades as a valued veteran leader with the Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers, retiring this summer with more than 16,000 points and 7,000 assists for his career. Only 15 players have surpassed those thresholds in NBA history; nine are Hall of Famers, and four others are future Hall of Famers (Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and James Harden). Lowry has a stronger case to join the club than Andre Miller, the only other member of this group who isn't in the Hall of Fame. After all, Miller never made an All-Star team or won a championship. Shawn Marion Eligible: Now Stoudemire's entry into the Hall is a big win for the "Seven Seconds or Less" Suns, who also saw coach Mike D'Antoni inducted this year as a contributor. Steve Nash & Co. never won a championship, but their undeniable influence on the pace-and-space nature of modern basketball deserves major recognition. Should Marion be next? The versatile 6-foot-7 forward has a lot going for him. "The Matrix" played 16 seasons, made four All-Star teams and two All-NBA teams, and was a linchpin for the early-2000s Suns before starting for the champion 2011 Dallas Mavericks. Marion stuffed the stat sheet with high-impact plays on both ends: Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin Garnett are the only players to exceed Marion's career totals in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. While Marion was never asked to carry a team like those legends did, there should be a place in Springfield for such a complete, productive and winning player. Chris Paul Eligible: 2029 Paul is a quintessential first-ballot candidate: The Hall of Fame put out an Instagram post in February featuring Paul in an orange jacket and noting his 2029 eligibility. Though Paul retired as arguably the best player who never won an NBA championship, the 6-foot point guard stacked a mountain of achievements during his legendary 21-year career. The 2005 lottery pick and 2006 Rookie of the Year embodied consistent excellence as a 12-time All-Star, 11-time All-NBA selection, nine-time All-Defensive selection, and a member of the NBA's 75th anniversary team. Paul ranks second in career assists and steals, fifth in career win shares and ninth in career wins. The Hall of Fame will need to budget extra time for Paul's lengthy enshrinement video: He won two Olympic gold medals, finished in the top 10 of MVP voting as a member of four different franchises, and made memorable playoff runs with the New Orleans Hornets, LA Clippers and Houston Rockets before leading the Phoenix Suns to the 2021 Finals. Sure, Paul amassed his fair share of rivals and critics due to his chippy play and stubborn personality. But even his most ardent haters would acknowledge he's one of the greatest point guards in NBA history. Rajon Rondo Eligible: Now Doc Rivers will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this week as a coach, joining his former Boston Celtics players Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Will Rondo, the other key member of the 2008 Celtics championship team, ever be invited to the party? That's a tricky question: The mercurial point guard won two rings -- getting his second with the 2020 Lakers -- but retired with ho-hum averages of 9.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game. During his prime, Rondo was an elite pass-first floor general and disruptive perimeter defender with a reputation for raising his game in the playoffs. He earned four All-Star nods during his Celtics tenure and led the league in assists three times in six seasons. But Rondo peaked early and hopped from team to team in the second half of his career, clashing with various coaches and teammates along the way. While Rondo ranks 15th in career assists, Mark Jackson, Andre Miller and Rod Strickland are all above him on the list and haven't been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Derrick Rose Eligible: 2028 Rose is a fascinating test case for one of the Hall of Fame's unwritten rules: NBA MVPs always make it. To date, every eligible NBA player with an MVP award has earned induction. Of course, Rose's career was sent sideways by a series of major knee injuries not long after he was named 2011 MVP in his age-22 season. Rather than carrying the Chicago Bulls back to the Finals for the first time since the Michael Jordan glory days, Rose was forced to shift to a reserve role in his late 20s and wound up playing for six teams in his 15-year career. Because he missed so much time due to injury and was limited in how many minutes he could handle later in his career, Rose's statistical case isn't all that compelling. In fact, Basketball Reference gives him just a 10.5% chance of making the Hall of Fame -- below the likes of Kemba Walker and Sam Cassell. But don't be surprised if a groundswell of support for Rose's induction builds among his NBA peers, who remember the heights he reached early in his career. Remember, the electric point guard was a high school sensation in Chicago and an All-American while leading the University of Memphis to the NCAA title game during his freshman season. After being selected first in the 2008 draft and winning 2009 Rookie of the Year, Rose earned three All-Star selections in his first four seasons and won two FIBA World Cup gold medals by the age of 25. Is that enough? Russell Westbrook Eligible: 2029 Westbrook, a relentless guard who in 2017 became the first player since the NBA/ABA merger to average a triple-double for a season, announced his retirement Wednesday. "Sometimes you don't even know when you've already watched the end," he wrote on social media. "You had to be there. And now it's over." The 2017 MVP and nine-time All-Star looks like a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Though his Oklahoma City Thunder lost in the 2012 Finals during his age-23 season and he never again played for a championship, Westbrook was one of the NBA's best and most productive players throughout his 20s. Westbrook's stubborn self-confidence and nonstop energy made him a franchise player and a lightning rod for critics, who questioned his outside shooting and decision-making. Despite some challenging moments in the playoffs, he earned nine All-NBA nominations, finished in the top five of MVP voting for four consecutive years, maintained a triple-double average for four seasons and landed on the NBA's 75th anniversary team. The 2008 lottery pick was best known for his run in Oklahoma City, where he teamed with Kevin Durant and took the reins after Durant's 2016 departure. Westbrook played for seven organizations and made the playoffs 14 times during his 18-year career. He also earned gold medals at the 2010 FIBA World Cup and 2012 London Olympics. While the second half of Westbrook's career was marked by short and sometimes contentious stops with several teams, his longevity enabled him to rank fifth all-time in assists and 14th in points and steals. What's more, LeBron James is the only player who has exceeded Westbrook's career totals in all three categories of points, rebounds and assists.