Basketball Hall of Fame welcomes 12 inductees

A total of 12 people will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this September 8 in Springfield, Massachusetts. The list of inductees was recently announced and it includes legendary NBA players Bernard King and Gary Payton. Other inductees are Roger Brown, Oscar Schmidt, Russ Granik, Rick Pitino, Jerry Tarkanian, Dawn Staley, Sylvia Hatchell, Guy Lewis, George Raveling, and Edwin Henderson.

As a lock-down defender, Payton was known as one of the league’s best-ever point guards. He was named as an NBA all star on nine occasions and also won the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award. He won a league championship with Miami back in 2006, but is best known for his years with the Seattle SuperSonics. In addition, he won a pair of gold medals with the American men’s Olympic team. Payton said he always wanted to be a pro basketball player, but he never dreamed that he’d be so successful and end up in the hall of fame.