Kobe Bryant's résumé has yet another entry to validate his greatness.
The late Los Angeles Lakers legend is set for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and he has plenty of elite company in the 2020 class, one that may be as glitzy as any.
Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, and fellow NBA greats Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett headline the nine-person group announced Saturday as this year's class of enshrinees. The ceremony in Springfield, Massachusetts, is scheduled for Aug. 29; if the COVID-19 pandemic forces a delay, there is a tentative plan for an October ceremony.
Whenever the 2020 inductees are honored, there will be no doubt about the group's worthiness.
"An amazing class," said Duncan, who won five league championships in a 19-year NBA career spent entirely with the San Antonio Spurs.
Bryant, Duncan and Garnett all got into the Hall in their first year as finalists, as did Tamika Catchings, who won the 1998 NCAA title with the Tennessee Lady Volunteers before becoming a 10-time WNBA All-Star and four-time Olympic gold medalist. Others had to wait a bit longer for the good news: Two-time NBA champion coach Rudy Tomjanovich finally got his call, as did longtime Baylor women's coach Kim Mulkey, 1,000-game winner Barbara Stevens of Bentley and three-time Final Four coach Eddie Sutton.
They were the eight finalists who were announced in February, and the panel of 24 voters who were tasked to decide who merited selection wound up choosing them all. Also headed to the Hall this year is former FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann, direct-elect selection by the international committee.
"He was the head of FIBA, and this was a way to honor him," Hall of Fame chairman and enshrinee Jerry Colangelo said. "It was a special thing done through that committee."
Bryant died at age 41 about three weeks before the Hall of Fame announced - as if there was going to be any doubt - that he was a finalist. Duncan and Garnett were also widely perceived to be locks to be part of this class; they were both 15-time NBA All-Stars, and Bryant was an 18-time selection.
Bryant's death is part of what has been a jarring start of the year for the NBA: commissioner emeritus David Stern died Jan. 1, Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among nine who died in the crash in late January and the NBA shut down March 11 as COVID-19 began to grip the United States.
"Obviously, we wish that he was here with us to celebrate," Vanessa Bryant, Kobe's wife, said on the ESPN broadcast of the class announcement. "But it's definitely the peak of his NBA career, and every accomplishment that he had as an athlete was a steppingstone to be here. So we're incredibly proud of him."
Like Duncan with the Spurs - he's now an assistant to coach Gregg Popovich - Bryant was a five-time champion with the Lakers.
"This is an incredibly special class, for many reasons," Colangelo said.
Garnett is the only player in NBA history with at least 25,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 5,000 assists, 1,500 blocks and 1,500 steals, and he helped the Boston Celtics win the 2008 title.
"This is the culmination," Garnett said. "All those hours this is what you do it for, right here. To be able to be called 'Hall of Famer' is everything."
Duncan, speaking on the broadcast, called his selection "kind of the end of the journey" as a player.
"It was an incredible career that I enjoyed so much," he added. "To call it a dream come true isn't even doing any justice to it. I never dreamt I'd be at this point."
Bryant, Duncan and Garnett were similar in many ways as players: the longevity of their careers, the eye-popping numbers, almost perennial inclusion on award lists. They also shared a dislike for touting personal accomplishments, but even the Hall would have touched Bryant, those closest to him said.
"No one deserves it more," Lakers governor Jeanie Buss said.
Added Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, Bryant's former agent: "All of us can trust that this Basketball Hall of Fame honor is one Kobe would, and will, deeply appreciate."
Tomjanovich, who had overwhelming support from NBA peers who couldn't understand why it took so long for his selection, was a five-time All-Star as a player, coached the Houston Rockets to back-to-back titles in the mid-1990s and guided the 2000 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team to a gold medal.
"It's a scary time, and families are being shattered by this pandemic," Tomjanovich said. "To get something positive right now is so wonderful."
Mulkey has three NCAA titles as a coach, won two others as a player and had Baylor in position to contend for another championship this season had the pandemic not forced the shutdown of virtually every sport around the globe.
Stevens has coached for 43 years and is a five-time Division II coach of the year.
"The incredible emotions that I felt after receiving the call from the Hall of Fame Friday afternoon, I can't even put into words," Stevens said.
Sutton won more than 800 games in nearly four decades, and Baumann was one of the most powerful voices in international basketball until his death in 2018.
For this year, largely because of the star power of this class, the Hall chose to enact a one-year suspension of direct elections from the veterans, women's veterans, early African-American pioneers and contributors categories.
With Bryant, Duncan and Garnett perhaps the top NBA trio to ever enter simultaneously, the Hall wanted to make sure no enshrinee would be overlooked.
"We didn't need to water it down," Colangelo said. "Next year is another year for many."