The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the 2020 enshrinement ceremony activities have been rescheduled to May 13-15, 2021. The events will take place at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.
The original dates of enshrinement were Aug. 28-30, but it was not feasible due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The organization was hoping to host the event sometime this October, but the current state of the health crisis no longer made that possible as well.
The Hall of Fame also announced that they were forced to eliminate several full-time employees and institute compensation cuts between 25-40% for senior management due to financial losses suffered during the pandemic.
The Class of 2020 is headlined with former NBA superstars Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and the late Kobe Bryant. The list of inductees also includes Rudy Tomjanovich, Tamika Catchings, Kim Mulkey, Barbara Stevens, Patrick Baumann, and Eddie Sutton.
It will be a particularly emotional night for Los Angeles Lakers fans as Bryant will be honored posthumously. Vanessa Bryant has already expressed interest in the Bryant family being involved with the Lakers icon’s enshrinement, but it remains to be seen how that will look once the day arrives.
With the Class of 2020’s enshrinement ceremony set for May, fans will finally get the opportunity to honor and celebrate some of basketball’s biggest contributors.
LeBron James discuses Kobe impact on basketball, Lakers
LeBron James and Bryant were intertwined throughout their careers but never faced off in the playoffs, creating one of the NBA’s greatest what-if scenarios.
When James joined the Lakers, he became the next superstar in a long lineage of purple and gold greats, further tying him to Bryant. The two established a closer relationship after Bryant’s playing career was over, making his passing even harder for James.
“The Lakers franchise is not what it is today without Kobe’s presence. Obviously along with some other guys as well and people in the office,” James recently said. “But Kobe’s presence, his legacy, is here every day.
“When you put on purple gold, put on Laker apparel, or think about basketball in general, even before I became a Laker, his legacy was cemented. I had an opportunity to play with him not only in All-Star Games but the Olympic team.
“If you’re a ballplayer, if you like the game, if you play the game, even if you don’t even play the game and are just a fan, there’s no way you can’t think about Kobe on a day-to-day basis.”
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