The crowd at Dirk Nowitzki’s Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Dallas screamed his name and waved the German flag as he walked the red carpet.

The former Dallas big man said “Danke,” which means “thank you” in English, to his parents during his acceptance speech.

When Tony Parker took the stage to kick off the events, his supporters cheered just as loudly.

Many people of French descent currently reside here. The Spurs’ point guard from San Antonio expressed regret.

Pau Gasol represented Spain by yelling, “mi familia!” in honor of his country’s basketball team before becoming part of what is arguably the most globally diverse class of inductees in Springfield shrine history.

Gasol, who fell in love with the sport when the 1992 Olympics were staged in his city of Barcelona, said, “I want to give a special mention to those first Europeans, who came here, across the ocean, who took a chance.”

‘I was 12. For the better, it seems. The Dream Team exhibited a new standard for basketball.

The basketball arena has a decidedly global feel thanks to the Class of 2023.

In 2007, Nowitzki became the first player born in Europe to earn NBA Most Valuable Player. In that year, Parker became the first European to win Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals. Gasol made history in 2002 as the first ever international rookie of the year in the NBA.

Parker, the Spurs’ point guard for four NBA championship teams, and veteran coach and five-time champion Gregg Popovich were also in attendance. Also recognized was Becky Hammon, who became the first woman to work as a full-time NBA assistant coach when she joined the Spurs after a successful career in the WNBA. Gasol spent his final two healthy seasons with the San Antonio Spurs.

Parker asserted, “Coach Pop – it starts with him.”

Dwyane Wade, an integral part of the Miami Heat’s three NBA championship teams, is among the other inductees. When he entered the arena, fans chanted, “Let’s go, Heat!” but he asked them to quiet down because Popovich was taking up too much time.

Wade urged his family and friends to stand so he could express his gratitude, and he specifically named his wife, the actress Gabrielle Union.

“Thank you for memorizing the names of every NBA official and yelling at them so I wouldn’t have to,” he remarked. Exclaimed, “Saved a lot of nice money.”

At the end, he brought up his dad, Dwyane Wade Sr. ‘We made it to the Hall of Fame, Pop,’ he remarked with a final embrace.

Posthumously, North Carolina State’s Jim Valvano was inducted. Valvano coached the Wolfpack to the 1983 NCAA championship and thereafter became a broadcaster and advocate for cancer research.

The 1976 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team, Gene Keady, a seven-time Big Ten coach of the year, Gary Blair, a two-time Final Four coach for the Texas A&M women’s team, David Hixon, a longtime coach at Amherst, and Gene Bess, who won 1,300 games as a junior college coach at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, rounded out the class.

Hammon missed the news conference when the inductees received their Hall of Fame rings and jackets on Friday because the Aces played a game that night in Las Vegas. She became emotional throughout her remarks as she thanked Popovich.

You weren’t attempting to show guts by hiring me, she said. “You altered the course of my life, and the lives of countless other young girls and women.”

Hammon was a six-time WNBA All-Star despite not being drafted by the league, and she eventually joined Popovich in San Antonio. She led the Aces to a WNBA title last year as their coach.

Hammon added, “I was going to go through a chimney or bust through a window to find a way because of the number of times I hear ‘no’ or have a door shut.” I wouldn’t go back and change the challenging moments since they helped me develop the resilience I need to face whatever is ahead.

Popovich poked fun at both his basketball skills and his reputation as a foul-mouthed media scapegoat. He urged the performers who were introducing him to be quiet. Popovich remarked as he seized the microphone, “Don’t speak, just sit there.”

Looking at Parker, he added, “All I wanted of Tony was that he be perfect. I’d be arrested if I coached him the same way now.

Parker bowed his head and grinned.

After joking, “I know that you all know now that I am a totally mature individual,” Popovich revealed that he was routinely tossed from practice as a player at the Air Force Academy.

Popovich kicked host Ahmad Rashad off the stage as the music tried to cut him short. He expressed appreciation to Tom James, the Spurs’ communications vice president, for his efforts to keep Popovich out of trouble. The coach then went off and poked the league again for leaving Seattle.

with example, he may have told Gary Payton, a former guard with the SuperSonics, “Come on, man, Seattle.” Payton was present at the game.

But Popovich got emotional when he praised his family, stating, “I have a family,” as if that would come as a surprise to those who view him as a sideline monster. Many assume that basketball is my only activity. Our enthusiasm for basketball isn’t reciprocated. We apply it to our skin like soap and… The words “I love you, Pop” are not anything I recall hearing.

Gasol expressed his gratitude to Kobe Bryant, his teammate on the 2000 and 2002 NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers teams, who perished in a helicopter accident with Bryant’s daughter Gigi in the year 2020.

I couldn’t have made it this far without you, brother, Gasol remarked. I really, really, really, want you and Gigi to be here with us today. You are in my thoughts and heart.

Like Gasol, Parker was won over by the 1992 Summer Olympics, when the United States beat the French national team by 50 points, despite having a roster full of future Hall of Famers. However, Gasol and Spain frequently stood in the way whenever it was time to compete in the European Championships.

Pau Gasol’s existence bothers me at times, Parker joked.