Steve Nash of Victoria is on the ballot, in his first year of eligibility, for the Basketball Hall of Fame鈥檚 Class of 2018.
The St. Michaels University School graduate, a two-time winner of the NBA most valuable player award, will be joined on the ballot by another point-guard who set the standard at the position for more than a decade. Nash started his career as the back-up to 10-time NBA all-star Jason Kidd in Phoenix before both moved on to careers that also included lengthy stints in Dallas. Now both could enter the sport鈥檚 Hall, officially known as the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, together.
Also eligible for the Class of 2018 are Ray Allen, Grant Hill, Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton in a group of first-time nominees who came on the NBA scene in the mid-to-late 1990s and excelled through the next decade. Allen matched Kidd鈥檚 all-star total of 10 while Nash was an eight-time NBA all-star. Billups also earned multiple all-NBA team honours.
Nash, who also starred at Arbutus Junior High School before SMUS, was inducted into the sa国际传媒 Sports Hall of Fame earlier this year with the Class of 2017.
Other first-timers on the basketball ballot for next year include longtime U.S. college coaches Bob Huggins and Steve Fisher and legendary NCAA referee Ed Hightower. On the women's side, Katie Smith, Tina Thompson, Becky Hammon and Valerie Still are the first-timers on the ballot.
Finalists will be announced at NBA all-star weekend on Feb. 17 in Los Angeles. The entire class will be unveiled during the NCAA Final Four in San Antonio.
