Legends of the game Elena Delle Donne and Candace Parker headline the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame's Class of 2026.
An elite eight is about to make its way to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
The Knoxville-based establishment will induct its latest class on Saturday, welcoming eight new names to its hallowed halls. It's a group that includes legends of both the amateur, international, professional, and stateside levels alike, with their impacts made on the court, sidelines, broadcast table, and beyond.
Find out more about the eight-member class below ...
JJ Redick shouts out Doris Burke on making history in the NBA Finals 🥹👏@jj_redick | @heydb pic.twitter.com/vpPa6IehVt
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 7, 2024
Doris Burke
Burke had a strong playing career at Providence, setting a Big East record in women's career assists upon her departure in 1987. But the former Friar is best-known for her voice, which has routinely narrated and reported on games that grace the airwaves of ESPN.
Burke originally rose to prominence by calling Knicks and Liberty games in her native New York and has been under ESPN's umbrella since 1991. Burke served as an ABC sideline reporter for every edition of the NBA Finals between 2009 and 2019 (overseeing the Larry O'Brien Trophy presentation six times in that span) and is also the first woman to be part of a Finals broadcast team, breaking the glass ceiling on both the television and radio waves.
Elena Delle Donne goes to work on A'ja Wilson to give @WashMystics a 4 point lead with 46 seconds to play #WNBA pic.twitter.com/huiimYIz6q
— FOR(E) (@FanSided_Fore) May 23, 2018
Elena Delle Donne
Delle Donne was one of the faces of the WNBA in 2010s, winning two MVP awards and guiding the Washington Mystics to their first championship in 2019. That came long after Delle Donne burst onto the scene at Ursuline Academy in her native Delaware, where she later repped the Delaware Blue Hens women's basketball program. Playing near home to stay close to her family, the decorated Delle Donne crashed the 2013 draft party as the second overall pick behind only Baylor's Brittney Griner.
Delle Donne also has an Olympic gold, repping the United States women's national team at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. To this day, Delle Donne holds the top free throw percentage (.937) and offensive rating (123.1) in WNBA history and is fourth in points per game (19.5) after leading the league in the department during her first MVP run in 2015. In the latter showcase in 2019, Delle Donne became the first WNBA player to join the 50-40-90 club in field goal, three-point, and free throw percentages respectively, since joined by only Napheesa Collier last season.
Isabelle Fijalkowski et Steve Nash entrent au Hall of Fame FIBA - https://t.co/kGYeEnHSsY pic.twitter.com/BSlou4xEUi
— Basket-Infos (@Basket_Infos) March 30, 2021
Isabelle Fijalkowski
Before Dominique Malonga, Gabby Williams, and more, there was Fijalkowski, the first French-born player to hear her name called at a WNBA Draft. Fijalkowski was the second of 16 names chosen in the debut "Elite" Draft, which called upon veteran women's talents to form the original rosters.
She would spend two stateside tours with the Cleveland Rockers, averaging 12.8 points and 6.2 rebounds. In her native France, Fijalkowski won five titles in the Ligue Féminine de Basketball and won its MVP award on two occasions. On the French women's national basketball team (where she won a EuroBasket gold in 2001), Fijalkowski still stands as one of its top scorers.
New: Eight years after she died of cancer, Clemson's Barbara Kennedy-Dixon is "still changing lives." It was an honor to speak with her husband, Marvin, about the life and legacy of the ACC's all-time leading scorer, who officially joins the @WBHOF tomorrow. Story link below pic.twitter.com/ZYUIv3jzkl
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) June 26, 2026
Barbara Kennedy-Dixon
Kennedy-Dixon will be a posthumous entrant, having passed away in 2018. Her legacy, however, is immortal, even without having the benefit of a major amateur or professional league on her side for most of her incredible career.
A legend of Clemson, Kennedy-Dixon was one of the first stars of the women's game when the NCAA began sponsoring such competition in the 1980s. To this day, she remains both the Tigers and the ACC's all-time leading basketball scorer both in the per game (24.5) and total (3,113) departments. One of eight players to tally at least 3,000 points and 1,000 rebounds at the NCAA women's level, Kennedy-Dixon also saved the best for first: she's responsible for the first points ever scored in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, part of a 43-point effort against Penn State that stands as one of the most dominant scoring efforts in the event's now-prolific history.
Happy Birthday to @KCC_WBB Head Coach, Kim Muhl!#WingsUp 🦅🏀 pic.twitter.com/lmkuQFiaix
— Kirkwood Eagles (@KirkwoodEagles) April 11, 2022
Kim Muhl
A longtime staple at Kirkwood (IA) Community College, Muhl called it a career after 37 seasons in April and won't have to wait long for a call from Knoxville.
Muhl is an undeniable legend at the JUCO level, guiding Kirkwood to nine NJCAA national championships. He amassed 1,108 victories at the helm of the Eagles, a good bulk of that built through a streak of 35 consecutive seasons that featured at least 20 wins. That tally was also built by a streak of 106 consecutive conference triumphs between 2006 and 2011.
Candace Parker is a legend 🐐 pic.twitter.com/dr2FJUpBHt
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) October 17, 2021
Candace Parker
It's a brilliant homecoming to Knoxville for Parker, one of the most accomplished Lady Vols. While Olivia Miles is engaged in a rookie breakout for the WNBA ages in Minnesota, she may still have miles to match the debut of Parker: upon her arrival as the top pick of the 2008 WNBA Draft, Parker swiped not only the Rookie of the Year title but the MVP as well. To date, she's one of just three to pull off such a sweep at the NBA/WNBA levels, joining male counterparts Wilt Chamberlain and Wes Unseld.
From there, Parker partook in three WNBA championship runs (2016, 2021, 2023) with three different clubs (Los Angeles, Chicago, and Las Vegas respectively), adding to an expansive jewelry collection that also included two national titles at Tennessee (both of which saw her take the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player award), two Olympic golds with Team USA, and several other international championships. Individual honors include two WNBA MVP awards, leading the league in assists, blocks, and rebounds at separate points and the league's Defensive Player of the Year honor in the Bradenton bubble at age 34.
TRUE or FALSE: Cheryl Reeve is the leading candidate for Coach of the Year. #WNBA pic.twitter.com/1ReUBK4ha6
— I talk hoops 🏀 (@trendyhoopstars) August 22, 2024
Cheryl Reeve
A good bit of the WNBA's 30-year history has been penned by Reeve, the alpha in Minnesota since 2010. It's hard to envision Reeve patrolling any sideline that isn't Minnesota's, but she did so for five seasons at Indiana State at the turn-of-the-century. Minneapolis, however, has hosted her forte, one that has seen the Lynx reach a record WNBA Finals over the last 16 years. She has won four, tied with Van Chancellor for the most in league history.
Reeve is also a four-time winner of the WNBA Coach of the Year title, which sets another record. Since 2017, she has also been a part of the Lynx's front office, beginning as general manager before gaining a promotion to president of basketball operations. In addition to two more WNBA rings as an assistant coach with the Detroit Shock, Reeve was also the overseer of the most recent American Olympic gold medal run, taking over the 2024 Paris Games that featured her tenured pupil Collier.
🎖️ Historia del baloncesto español.
— Gigantes del Basket (@GIGANTESbasket) June 26, 2026
Amaya Valdemoro será incluida en el Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.@valdemoro13 👏 pic.twitter.com/j2VwbAQKoP
Amaya Valdemoro
Valdemoro was a reserve on three Houston Comet championship clubs after coming over from her native Spain. Her greater impact came back home, getting things start with a EuroLeague title at there mere age of 17. That was also her first year with the Spanish senior national club, which produced several other team title, such as a championship tally at the 2013 EuroBasket showdown in Paris.
Beyond the titles won stateside with the Comets, Valdemoro won 20 more championships between competitions in Russia and Spain. This is far from her first Hall of Fame induction: her homeland honored her in 2019 and she got the call from FIBA four years later.
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