Vince Carter And Chauncey Billups Officially Got The Hall Of Fame Nod And Are Off To Basketball Immortality

Last August, we embraced debate when it came to the 2024 HOF class, a group that had a mixed bag of candidates

At the time, as I do every year, I went through the case for each player and came to the following conclusion

So looking at the potential 2024 class, I have 1 lock with Vince Carter, and then two maybe's/finally get in with Billups/Marion, with three no's in Amar'e, Crawford, and Noah. I can't imagine they have an entire HOF weekend just to induct one guy, so I'm rolling with those three.

I do still think Marion will eventually get in given he has a 75.6% chance in the Basketball Reference HOF calculator, but it should be no surprise that Vince and Billups were the ones to get the official nod. Vince Carter was the no brainer and Billups had a 84.4% chance of finally getting in, and both are deserved in my opinion

Between what we saw with the 2020 class (Kobe, KG, Duncan), the 2021 class (Pierce, Bosh Webber), the 2022 (Manu), and then 2023 (Dirk, Wade), I will say it's a bit of a mindfuck to see all these legends that I grew up watching be inducted into the HOF. I feel like I remember watching them all play like it was yesterday. During their playing days we always talked about how they were futer HOFers, but now that we're finally here it feels extremely weird. Are we all really that old? 

You know how you'll be watching a game and you'll see the son or daughter of an athlete you watched growing up and it makes you feel old as shit? That's how I feel with all these guys from my era of NBA fandom getting inducted into the HOF. It's probably rooted in denial, but my brain simply refuses to accept it.

Looking ahead, the 2025 class is headlined by Marc Gasol and JJ Redick, and I could maybe see Gasol getting the nod since it's the "Basketball HOF". In 2026 we get Melo (a lock), Dwight Howard (should be a lock), Rondo (a question for some), and LaMarcus Aldridge (probably not). My guess is next year we see Gasol/Marion get the nod, and then in 2026 it will most likely only be Melo/Dwight. Again, it's so weird to see this era of players find their way to basketball immortality.

P.S.

To this day, DWades HOF speech is probably one my favorite HOF speeches we've ever had (excluding every Celtic of course). Despise the Heat and that Big 3 era with every fiber of my being, but that speech was undeniably awesome