The file photo taken on Dec. 18, 2017 shows Kobe Bryant speaking during his jersey retirement press conference in Los Angeles, the United States. Retired NBA star Kobe Bryant was one of five people killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas of southern California on Jan. 26, 2020. (Xinhua/Li Ying)
Five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and former FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann are both to be posthumously inducted into the Naismith Basketball Memorial Hall of Fame.
WASHINGTON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and former International Basketball Federation (FIBA) secretary general Patrick Baumann are both to be posthumously inducted into the Naismith Basketball Memorial Hall of Fame.
Bryant and Baumann headlined a nine-person group announced Saturday as this year's class of enshrinees into the Hall of Fame.
Bryant, 41, who died in a helicopter crash in California in January, played for 20 years with the Los Angeles Lakers and won five NBA titles.
He is considered one of the best basketball players of all time, and was part of the U.S. team that won Olympic gold medals at Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
P. Baumann of Switzerland delivers his speech during Lausanne's 2020 Youth Olympic Winter Games bid presentation at the 128th International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 31, 2015. The session will decide the host cities of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the 2020 Youth Olympic Winter Games.(Xinhua/Gong Lei)
Baumann, 51, a former International Olympic Committee member, died after suffering a heart attack while attending the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.
Joining Bryant and Baumann in the Hall of Fame are three-time NBA Finals MVP Tim Duncan, 15-time NBA All-Star Kevin Garnett, two-time NBA champion coach Rudy Tomjanovich, four-time Olympic medalist Tamika Catchings, three-time NCAA National Championship coach Kim Mulkey, college basketball coach Barbara Stevens and Eddie Sutton, former Oklahoma State men's coach. ■
