Spurs Legend Manu Ginóbili will be inducted into the 2022 NBA Hall of Fame.
Ginobile, who retired in 2018, got the phone call over the weekend that so many players dream of. He will be a first ballot Hall of Famer.
The moment @manuginobili received THE call 📞#22HoopClass | #PorVida pic.twitter.com/PmoqojEeHC
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) April 2, 2022
There had been rumors all week that the call was coming, but Ginóbili said it was truly incredible to experience it.
"The moment it gets real, it is quite powerful," Ginóbili
said.
Growing up in Argentina, playing in the NBA was a long shot — let alone the Hall of Fame.
"Playing in the NBA was not part of my dreams early on. Then you know a lot of things started happening with the league getting more global," he said.
And no team has been more global than the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs drafted Ginóbili with the #57 overall pick in 1999.
He was a key member of the Spurs championship teams in 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014. He also won an Olympic Gold Medal with the Argentian national team in 2004.
He's credited with revolutionizing the Eurostep in the NBA.
Ginóbili, along with Hall of Famer Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, are the winningest Big Three in NBA history.
Those Spurs teams were known for team basketball and Ginóbili embodied that spirit, agreeing to come off the bench for much of his career to benefit the team.
Ginóbili will be joined by twelve others in the 2022 Naismith Hall of Fame class.
They include five-time all star Tim Hardaway, two-time NCAA National Coach of the Year Bob Huggins, the NBA’s sixth-winningest coach of all-time George Karl and longtime NBA referee Hugh Evans, as well as three-time WNBA champion and two-time gold medalist Swin Cash, and five-time WNBA All-Star and four-time WNBA champion Lindsay Whalen.
“Year after year, we are constantly reminded of the extraordinary and transcendent efforts of the remarkable men and women who have impacted the game of basketball from a global perspective,” said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. “The Class of 2022 is ripe with individuals who have had a significant historical impact on the game we love. We congratulate and thank them for everything they’ve done to better the sport and look forward to honoring them during Enshrinement this fall.”
The Enshrinement ceremony will take place Sept. 9-10.
