The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame's class of 2026 will be inducted on Saturday night. It includes Amar'e Stoudemire, Candace Parker, Chamique Holdsclaw, Elena Delle Donne, coaches Mike D'Antoni, Mark Few and Doc Rivers, and the entire 1996 U.S. women's national team.
Naturally, it got us to thinking about future classes and who may or may not be included among current players. We will not be covering any retired players who are either not yet eligible or not yet voted in. This would include the likes of Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook (who just announced his retirement on Wednesday), both of whom are surefire first-ballot inductees. Kyle Lowry is going to get in, too. I would bet on Andre Iguodala eventually.
But those are debates for another day. We're focusing on currently active players and have broken them into tiers ranging from first-ballot locks to those on the outside looking in.
FIRST-BALLOT LOCKS
LeBron James
Arguably the GOAT. All-time leading scorer in both regular and postseason, both by extreme and still-growing margins. Four championships, including the only 3-1 comeback in Finals history over the 73-win Warriors in 2016. Four league MVPs. Four Finals MVPs. Three Olympic gold medals. LeBron has played for three franchises and won at least one MVP and a championship with each, the only player in history to do so. He's trying to go four-for-four with the 76ers, but obviously, his legacy and Hall of Fame spot are cemented no matter how this (presumably) final chapter turns out. -- Brad Botkin
Stephen Curry
Once Michael Jordan took official control of the NBA, save for his two-year baseball hiatus, nobody else won. Curry winning four titles in the LeBron era begs an honest question: Was it actually the Curry era? Since 2015, Curry has won two MVPs, including the only unanimous one in history, to LeBron's zero and the four titles to LeBron's two. Three of those titles came via a head-to-head Finals win over LeBron. Who was the better player during the heart of Curry's run is a real debate, but obviously Curry's first-ballot Hall of Fame status is not. He's the all-time 3-point leader and the greatest shooter to ever live by a wide margin. He changed the game in a way very few players, if any, ever have. -- Botkin
Kevin Durant
Perhaps the purest scorer to ever play, Durant ranks fifth all-time with 32,597 points and counting. His 50% career shooting percentage is remarkable given his primarily jump-shot diet. A four-time scoring champion, Durant won MVP in 2014 and has four top-two finishes and five top-fives to go with two championships, two Finals MVPs, 16 All-Star and 12 All-NBA selections, including six first-teams. He's also a two-time member of the exclusive 50-40-90 shooting club. In addition to his NBA résumé, Durant is the only male basketball player in history with four Olympic gold medals and is Team USA's all-time leading Olympic scorer. -- Botkin
Nikola Jokić
The best player on the planet for no less than a half-decade and his reign is arguably ongoing. To call Jokiċ the best passing big man of all time is an insult; he's one of the greatest passers the game has ever seen, period. He won three MVPs in four years and hasn't finished lower than second since 2020. Led the Nuggets to the 2023 title without a single other All-Star on his roster. In fact, Jamal Murray (one selection) and late-career Russell Westbrook are the only All-Stars Jokiċ has ever played with. An advanced stats god, Jokiċ is the only player in history to lead the league in assists and rebounds per game in the same season, which he did last year when he averaged a triple-double. When it's all said and done, he'll have a legit case as the greatest offensive center of all-time, if he doesn't already own that title. -- Botkin
Giannis Antetokounmpo
A two-time MVP and the 2021 Finals MVP, Antetokounmpo tallied nine straight All-NBA nods, including seven straight first teams, before his run ended last season when he played in just 36 games. He has also made five All-Defense teams, and in 2020, he became the third player in history to win MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. Antetokounmpo is one of the most physically overwhelming and forceful downhill drivers the league has ever seen with a relentless motor. Had he ever really learned to shoot, we might've been talking about him with the GOATs one day. -- Botkin
James Harden
One of the greatest individual creators to ever play, Harden, in his prime, was a virtually indefensible one-man offense, and he's still doing it as he enters his 18th NBA season. Two years ago, Harden was a third-team All-NBA selection. Last year, he averaged 23 and 8. Between 2015 and 2020, Harden finished in the top three in MVP voting five of six years and won it in 2018. That was the year he came closest to the championship that has eluded him. Harden's Rockets had the juggernaut Warriors in a 3-2 hole before Chris Paul went down for the rest of the series with a torn hamstring. It's true that Harden has an inconsistent playoff profile with some pretty loud no-shows on big stages, but this is a guy who averaged north of 33 points per game over a three-year span, something only four other players (Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Rick Barry and Luka Dončić) have ever done. He's a no-doubt first-ballot Hall of Famer. -- Botkin
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Gilgeous-Alexander is one of 14 players in history to have won two MVPs and one of eight with a Finals MVP and scoring title to boot. The other seven who check all three of those boxes are Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Moses Malone, Wilt Chamberlain and Giannis Antetokounmpo. A little lower on this list, we're going to look at players who are certain to eventually make the Hall of Fame through an "if they retired today" lens, but SGA is already too secure for that list even though he's only played eight seasons. His last four simply have been too historic to deny, even if he somehow never played another game. -- Botkin
Joel Embiid
Embiid's peak may end up being among the shortest of any player on this list, but it was also better than just about anyone else's. Two MVP runner-ups preceded his win in 2023, when he averaged 33.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per game -- the highest scoring average from an MVP since Michael Jordan in 1988. Postseason success has eluded Embiid and injuries are unfortunately as big a story as his on-court dominance, but every eligible past NBA MVP has been inducted into the Hall of Fame and Embiid will not be the exception. -- Robby Kalland
Draymond Green
Green feels like a player many people will label as a fringe Hall of Famer, or at least not a first-ballot selection, which is ridiculous. Save all the nonsense about riding the coattails of Curry and the Warriors; they needed Green as much as he needed them. Green was the second-most important piece of the dynasty -- a generational defender and a criminally underrated offensive weapon during his prime. An instinctual passer, brilliant impromptu screener and a force pushing the ball in transition, Green was the quarterback of those Warriors title teams and should absolutely go into the Hall on the first ballot. -- Botkin
Kawhi Leonard
The NBA cares a great deal about whether Leonard conspired with the Clippers to circumvent the salary cap, but the Hall won't. He's rightfully going in on the first ballot, his inconsistent health notwithstanding. When Leonard has been able to stay on the court, he's been one of the best players in the world for more than a decade. Kawhi has made seven All-NBA teams and seven All-Defense. He's one of 12 players in history with two championships and two Finals MVPs, and of those 12, only two have also won two Defensive Player of the Year awards: Hakeem Olajuwon and Leonard. He was named to the league's 75th anniversary team as one of the greatest players in history. Assuming this investigation actually ends at some point, he'll be back on the court with still plenty left in the tank after a second-team All-NBA season last year. He's a lock. -- Botkin
Klay Thompson
The second-greatest 3-point shooter and greatest 3-and-D player in history. Thompson was a core part of four championships and flat-out saved the Warriors on multiple postseason occasions, most notably Game 6 of the 2016 conference finals against the Thunder when he poured in 41 points on 11 3-pointers. Thompson holds the single-game record with 14 made 3-pointers, and he's fourth all-time with 2,899 made 3s and should pass Ray Allen for third place this season, barring injury. The two All-NBA and five All-Star selections don't do justice to how great a two-way player Thompson was for basically the entirety of his Warriors career. -- Botkin
Anthony Davis
Davis is a 10-time All-Star, five-time All-NBA selection, five-time All-Defensive team selection, 2013 Rookie of the Year, a 2020 NBA champion and a member of the NBA's 75th anniversary team. There's not really any room for debate based solely on his NBA resume, but if you add in his year at Kentucky, where he led the Wildcats to a national title as a freshman, there's no world where he's not in on the first ballot. -- Kalland
Damian Lillard
Lillard is currently in the top 50 all-time in points and assists (42nd in both categories), and the seven-time All-NBA selection (and NBA 75th Anniversary team member) will go into the Hall on his first ballot. Lillard not only will have the statistical profile to merit that selection -- likely finishing his career in the top 30 in scoring and assists -- but he was one of the early pioneers of the deep 3-pointer that shifted how the game was played. The only thing lacking from Lillard's resume is a championship, but even then, he's produced plenty in the postseason and authored some iconic game-winners –--most notably his series-winner over OKC in 2019. -- Kalland
Jayson Tatum
Tatum has been a major contributor on a championship-contending team from the second he stepped into the league. He's averaged at least 23 points per game in his last six full seasons (we're not counting the 16 games he played at the end of last season) and at least 26 points in each of his last five, with four top-six MVP finishes. The bottom line is he has been one of the best players in the league for nearly a decade. He's got the championship. The gold medal. He's far from done, and even if he's not quite the same player after his Achilles injury, he's going to tack on enough quality seasons over the latter half of his career to make it a no-brainer by the time he retires. -- Botkin
Jalen Brunson
Not all championships are weighed equally. The Knicks are different, and Brunson leading the way to last year's title, in addition to the two national championships and Naismith award he won at Villanova (remember, it's the basketball Hall of Fame, not just the NBA Hall of Fame), seals the deal. We all know Brunson is far from done, but even if he were to retire right now, this Knicks run (three All-NBA teams, a Clutch Player of the Year and a 29.4 points per game average over 61 playoff games in New York with a Finals MVP) plus all the Villanova stuff are already enough to get in. -- Botkin
Luka Dončić
Like Gilgeous-Alexander, Dončić has only been in the league for eight years. Unlike SGA, he doesn't have a championship or an MVP yet, so we can debate whether he has done enough to get into the Hall if he were to retire today. I say yes, and I say it pretty emphatically. For my money, Dončić is already one of the greatest offensive players in history. Just for fun, let's say Dončić gets sick of basketball over the next month and decides to never play again: He will become the only player ever to retire with career averages of at least 29 points, eight assists and eight rebounds. He and Michael Jordan are the only players in history to hold 30 points per game postseason scoring averages. Six All-NBA first-team selections. Six top-six MVP seasons. Rookie of the Year. All the international success -- winning the EuroLeague with Real Madrid at 19 years old while taking home MVP and Final Four MVP honors. I cannot imagine how he wouldn't go into the Hall if he retired today. But of course, he's not going to do that, so he's definitely headed there on the first ballot someday. -- Botkin
BARRING AN ALL-TIME JINX
Victor Wembanyama
When we were putting this list together, we debated putting Wembanyama in the lock category already. He'll be there within a few years, and if he's in the league for a decade-plus, he will likely end up on a lot of people's all-time top 10s. That's how good this guy has been to start his career. And after leveling up in 2025-26 to lead the Spurs to the Finals and collect his first DPOY award, he seems destined to add a ton of DPOY and MVPs to his collection. The debate over his spot on the all-time lists will likely come down to how many Larry O'Briens he's able to add to San Antonio's trophy case, but even three years into his career, the Hall of Fame can likely start prepping an extremely long orange jacket. -- Kalland
HIGHLY PROBABLE
Kyrie Irving
A nine-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA selection, 2011 Rookie of the Year and 2016 NBA champion, Irving -- in spite of some injury and off-court hiccups -- will eventually make his way to Springfield. The only question is whether it's on his first ballot, as there is a divide between how his peers view him and how some in the media do. Irving is beloved by fellow NBA players, as his ball-handling skills elevate him to an all-time elite tier among hoopers. However, the media has not always been fond of Irving and it will be interesting to see if that leads to more than one year on the ballot. -- Kalland
Paul George
George, pending health, will cross the 20,000-point mark this coming year and will likely cruise into the top-50 on the all-time scoring list within the next season or two. He's a nine-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA selection and a four-time All-Defensive team selection -- and has an Olympic gold medal to boot. He's going to be in the Hall of Fame, but how he ends his career will determine how quickly he cruises in. -- Kalland
Jimmy Butler
A six-time All-Star, five-time All-NBA selection and four-time All-Defense selection, Butler's highs are incredibly high. He led the Heat to the NBA Finals twice, but is still chasing that elusive championship ring that would bump him into another tier of star. Still, Butler's journey from unheralded rookie to one of the league's top players has been incredible, and he has made every team he's been on better when he's there -- even if he's sometimes left by burning bridges on the way out of town. He's not going to end his career so high on the all-time statistical lists that he'll avoid any debate, but it's safe to assume he'll make it to Springfield. -- Kalland
Karl-Anthony Towns
Towns is going to be a fascinating debate over whether he gets in on the first ballot -- and some of that will depend on who he's up against -- but his performance as the second-best player on the Knicks' title team (and to some, arguably the best) elevates him into the likely category. He's a six-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA selection, the 2016 Rookie of the Year and now an NBA champion. He is also the best 3-point-shooting big man of all time. That bolsters his case, as the Basketball Hall of Fame aims to tell the story of the game. This era has been defined by stretch bigs and no one has been more prolific or successful in stretching their range than Towns. Another few strong seasons -- or one more title -- and he'll lock up his spot in Springfield without much debate. -- Kalland
Donovan Mitchell
If Mitchell never makes a Finals, let alone wins a championship, you are going to hear a lot of people screaming about "winning basketball" versus numbers. But he's most likely getting in. He finished fifth in MVP voting in 2023, and sixth and seventh in the past two seasons. He's made three All-NBA teams, one first-team and two seconds. He currently owns the seventh-highest postseason scoring average in history at 27.8. He's not finished as the Cavs just signed him to a max contract extension. If his decline is precipitous, he has a fairly debatable case at the moment. But assuming at least a few more seasons of elite production, he's probably bound for Springfield. -- Botkin
Kevin Love
Love may not be a first-ballot selection (depending on who he's up against), but the five-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA selection and 2016 NBA champion will eventually make his way into the Hall. While the All-Star selections lag behind, Love's profile is fairly comparable to that of Chris Bosh -- right down to sacrificing personal stats for the good of a team as the third option on a LeBron James-led championship squad. Not only does he have the statistical profile and accolades, but Love was also one of the early stretch fours who fully embraced shooting threes and helped change the way the position was played. -- Kalland
Anthony Edwards
Edwards should, at a minimum, end his career with a Lillard-like case for the Hall of Fame -- a likely first-ballot selection. Edwards is the leading man on a perennial playoff team that may never quite get over the hump, given the competition in the West. However, it took him only six seasons to get to 10,854 career points and he's got four All-Star nods and two All-NBA selections. If he keeps shooting threes at the rate we've seen over the last two years, he's going to rocket up the all-time scoring list over the prime of his career and continue stacking accolades. An MVP season would secure his spot, but provided he simply stays on his current track, he's going to be a Hall of Famer by the time he hangs them up. -- Kalland
Rudy Gobert
The Gobert Hall-of-Fame wars are going to be amazing. Personally, I don't think there's a world where he doesn't get in, but there will be plenty of people -- including some of his peers -- who absolutely hate it because a lot of people really, really don't like the guy. Gobert is tied with Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace (two Hall of Famers) for the most DPOY wins with four. He's a nine-time All-Defensive team selection. He's a four-time All-NBA selection. He will be a Hall of Famer and Draymond Green will be very mad about it. -- Kalland
DeMar DeRozan
There's a very short and powerful Hall of Fame case to be made for DeRozan: He is 18th on the NBA's all-time scoring list. He's likely going to finish his career inside the top 15 and is about to pass Hakeem Olajuwon this year. Like Al Horford, I'm not sure most fans immediately think "Hall of Famer" when they see DeRozan, but his longevity as a scorer is going to punch his ticket. He's made six All-Star teams and earned three All-NBA nods, which on their own wouldn't lock him into Springfield, but it'd be a true historical outlier for him not to make it in as a top 20 all-time scorer. -- Kalland
PROBABLE
Devin Booker
Booker feels a lot like Jaylen Brown to me. He sort of feels like an eventual Hall of Famer, but when I look at the résumé, it's not as impressive. Two All-NBA teams. One top-four MVP finish. Five All-Stars. He's been a pretty elite scorer (one of 30 to average at least 24 points for his career) and he does have two Olympic gold medals. Most of his career has been spent on losing teams, save for the Chris Paul years. Booker probably makes it in eventually on sheer numbers, but it's not yet a slam dunk. -- Botkin
Jrue Holiday
Ask yourself this: Who is a better basketball player, Jrue Holiday or Trae Young? Your answer to that question is a good indication of your Hall standard. Young is going to end up with all-time numbers on mostly (to this point) losing teams. Holiday is not going to have Hall of Fame numbers, but he's the ultimate winner (with pretty damn good numbers, too). If Rudy Gobert gets in on defense, which he should, then Holiday is the perimeter equivalent. -- Botkin
Al Horford
I will preface this by saying I grew up a Hawks fan and my first job in the NBA was covering the Hawks from 2011-17. As objectively as I can say it: Al Horford is a Hall of Famer. Now, to be fair, his NBA case is admittedly borderline and largely based on longevity. He's a five-time All-Star, made the All-NBA team in 2011 and won a championship in 2024 with the Celtics as a starter. He is 11th in all-time playoff games played with 197 and is in the top 20 in all-time playoff rebounds and blocks. He transformed his game mid-career to become a stretch big after taking 65 3s over his first eight seasons and has hit 39.1% from three on nearly 2,800 attempts. However, when you add in Horford's college career, helping lead Florida to back-to-back national titles, his case becomes pretty solid. -- Kalland
ON THE FENCE
Jaylen Brown
Brown is a good bet to eventually get in, but he's not a lock at this point. Last year was the first time he finished inside the top 10 of MVP voting. He's never made an All-NBA first team. Yes, he has the championship and the Finals MVP. That helps big-time, and he's got a lot of career left. If he gets another title in Philadelphia, you can pretty much start fitting his orange jacket. But outside of that, he's going to need to have a few more elite seasons before we can call him a Hall of Famer with real certainty. -- Botkin
Bam Adebayo
Adebayo is perhaps the most interesting of the stars in their primes currently to debate. He is a three-time All-Star and has made six All-Defensive teams, but he's never won a DPOY and may never get one now that Wembanyama is on the prowl. His defensive prowess has always been central to his case as one of the league's best, but if he doesn't have that ultimate defensive hardware, will voters put him in the Hall? That's going to come down to how successful the Heat are with Adebayo alongside Antetokounmpo. He has two Finals appearances already and an Olympic gold medal. Given the dearth of young American centers, he is highly likely to be part of the 2028 squad. A championship or at least a few years with Miami as a contender with him playing at a high level would bolster his case. Right now, he's on the outside looking in. -- Kalland
TRENDING UP
Cade Cunningham
Cunningham has exploded over the last two years. At 24 years old, he has two All-NBA nods, including one first team last year, when he finished fifth in MVP voting. He doesn't have the longevity yet, but currently, he and Dončić are the only two players in history with career averages of at least 22 points, eight assists, five rebounds and one steal per game. Cunningham does it all, and he hasn't even hit his peak yet. -- Botkin
Tyrese Haliburton
How Haliburton looks post-Achilles injury will determine if he remains on track, but with two All-Star trips, two All-NBA selections and serving as the engine of a Finals team in his first five seasons in the NBA, he's on an early Hall of Fame path. At the rate he piles up assists, he could very well end up in the top 10 all-time when it's all said and done, which would further bolster his case for Springfield. -- Botkin
WORK TO DO
- Pascal Siakam: Siakam has a real chance to move into the "probable" category with a few more elite seasons, especially if Indiana manages to get back to another Finals. He has two All-NBA teams and four All-Star appearances. He already has one championship with the Raptors and was one win from second in 2025 with the Pacers, when he may have won Finals MVP. It might surprise you that Siakam finished 10th in MVP voting with Toronto, and he has averaged north of 20 points per game for seven straight seasons now.
- Jamal Murray: Until last season, Murray had never made an All-Star team and he has zero All-NBA selections. Yet he's one of the premier postseason performers of his era and played second-fiddle to Jokić on a championship team. He's an interesting case that still has time to strengthen, but is probably shy of Hall worthiness at present.
- Trae Young: As mentioned above, Young is tracking toward all-time numbers. Only Magic Johnson and John Stockton own high career per-game assist marks than Young's 9.78. He's got a shot to pass 25,000 career points, which would place him in the top 25 all-time. If he finds some postseason success over the second half of his career, he'll have a strong Hall case. But as of now, he's below the cut line.
-- Botkin
TOO EARLY TO TELL
- Chet Holmgren: Holmgren will be a fascinating case to watch develop. He would typically be viewed as a generational defender, but plays in a generation with a guy who may end up the best ever in Wembanyama. His Hall case will be determined by the Thunder's team success. If they win multiple titles with Holmgren anchoring the defense, he'll get in. If more rings aren't on the way and he finishes second to Wembanyama in DPOY every year, he might end up on the outside looking in.
- Cooper Flagg: It's too early to tell for sure, but Flagg got off on the right foot with his Rookie of the Year campaign, averaging 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. He looks the part of a player who will pile up All-Star and All-NBA selections, and has to be considered the most likely HOFer from the last two rookie classes.
-- Kalland
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
- Bradley Beal: Injuries derailed what was, at one point, a potential HOF path. Beal made three All-Stars, one All-NBA squad and averaged north of 30 points in two consecutive seasons, but he won't end up high enough on all-time lists to garner much consideration.
- Khris Middleton: Three All-Star appearances and a phenomenal performance as the Robin to Antetokounmpo's Batman to help the Bucks win the 2022 title won't be enough to get Middleton into the Hall, but it will get his jersey retired in Milwaukee one day.
- Brook Lopez: Lopez had one of the most incredible and dramatic mid-career shifts, going from a low-block scoring center to a stretch 5 who was briefly one of the league's most dominant defenders. He won't end up with enough accolades to make it to Springfield, but he was emblematic of how the NBA has changed over the last 15 years.
- Mike Conley: Perhaps the poster child for a Hall of Very Good career. A core piece of the Grit N' Grind Grizzlies, he elevated the Timberwolves upon arrival and is viewed as an all-time elite teammate. But with just one All-Star nod, he'll fall short of the Hall.
- Julius Randle: Randle had some high highs with three All-Star appearances and two All-NBA selections, but playoff disappointments and inconsistencies are unfortunately as much a part of his story as the at-times elite play.
- CJ McCollum: McCollum doesn't quite pass the "you know a Hall of Famer when you see one" test, but he's got a sneaky case. One of the league's best individual shot makers for the last 15 years, McCollum averaged north of 20 points for a decade straight and is still an 18 points-per-game guy with go-to postseason scoring chops. He has an outside chance to finish his career with 20,000 points.
-- Kalland
