Basketball's biggest weekend of the year finally showed up, and the 2026 class is stacked. Doc Rivers, Amar'e Stoudemire, Mike D'Antoni, Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne, Chamique Holdsclaw, Mark Few, Joey Crawford and the 1996 U.S. Olympic Women's team all got the orange jacket treatment at the Hoophall's Tip-Off Celebration and Awards Gala, with the formal Enshrinement Ceremony set for Saturday night at Symphony Hall in Springfield. That's 9 honorees walking the same red carpet, and somehow none of them felt like the odd one out.
Rivers is going in with a resume that's less about one signature moment and more about longevity. Across 27 seasons on the bench in Orlando, Boston, LA, Philly and Milwaukee, he racked up over 1,180 career wins and delivered the Celtics their 2008 title alongside Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. But ahead of the ceremony, Rivers wasn't talking about banners. He was talking about what it cost him.
Doc Rivers, ahead of his induction, on what he sacrificed for the game — the family time he can't get back.
"My life, my voice for sure. My time, my love, and you sacrifice a lot of stuff. I missed a lot of family stuff. I don't think people understand how much family time you miss," Rivers said. It's the kind of admission coaches don't usually make out loud, and it landed harder given who was there to hear it — his son Austin Rivers, who's spent the last few years needling his dad in interviews just like this one.
A throwback clip of Austin Rivers interviewing his dad, needling him about the 'Doc' nickname before this weekend's induction.
Rivers also used the spotlight to make a point that wasn't really about himself. Before he got his jacket, he told reporters Steve Kerr belongs in the Hall of Fame too, arguing there's "no actual reason" he isn't already in — a nod to how rarely NBA coaches get inducted compared to college and international guys who coach for decades in one building. It's a gripe Rivers has voiced before, and standing on the doorstep of his own enshrinement gave it extra weight.
Stoudemire's night carried a different kind of emotion. The 6-time All-Star and 2003 Rookie of the Year built his case in Phoenix, where he spent 8 seasons as the vertical, lob-catching centerpiece of the "Seven Seconds or Less" Suns before finishing his career with stops in New York, Dallas and Miami. When it came time to put on the jacket, he didn't do it alone.
Amar'e Stoudemire officially receives his Hall of Fame orange jacket, with his kids helping him button it up.
That's the image that's going to stick from this class — not a highlight, not a stat line, just a dad letting his kids help him get dressed for the biggest night of his career. Parker, Delle Donne and Holdsclaw each had their own version of that moment on the carpet, and Dominique Wilkins, who went in himself back in 2006, showed up to credit Rivers as one of the reasons he found success in the league. Different sports, different eras, same building, same jackets.
The formal ceremony airs Saturday at 7 p.m. ET on NBA TV and the NBA App, and it's worth tuning in for more than the speeches. This is a class that spans four decades of the sport — a Gonzaga coach, an NBA referee, a gold medal team from Atlanta and a group of players who defined their positions — all getting the same 5 minutes on the same stage. That's what makes the Hall of Fame weekend hit different every year: it's the one place where all of it gets treated like it matters equally.