How to Watch: The 2016 Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

If you’re looking for a basketball fix today, check it: the 2016 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class is on the way. The list of inductees this year is quite something, veering from legendary big man Shaquille O’Neal, to singular Allen Iverson, to international superstar Yao Ming. And there are more...

Here’s the full list of inductees:

The full 2016 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class:

Allen Iverson: Eleven-time NBA All-Star and 1997 NBA Rookie of the Year

Tom Izzo: Head Coach of the Michigan State University Spartans men’s basketball team and 2000 NCAA Division I National Champion

Yao Ming: Eight-time NBA All-Star with the Houston Rockets

Shaquille O’Neal: Four-time NBA Champion (three-time Finals MVP), 15-time NBA All-Star and 2000 NBA MVP

Jerry Reinsdorf: Owner of the six-time NBA Champion Chicago Bulls

Sheryl Swoopes: WNBA’s first-ever signed player and three-time WNBA MVP

Zelmo Beaty (posthumous): Two-time NBA All-Star and three-time ABA All-Star, who averaged a double-double in scoring and rebounding over his career

Darrel Garretson (posthumous): 27-year NBA official, organizer and leader of the National Association of Basketball Referees

John McClendon (posthumous): First coach to win three consecutive national championships (Tennessee State, 1957-59) and first African-American coach to coach in a professional league (ABL)

Cumberland Posey (posthumous): 2006 inductee of the Baseball Hall of Fame and winner of four consecutive Colored Basketball World Championships between 1900-1920

As per the above link, you can watch the entire event on NBA TV on Friday, September 9th, starting at 7:30pm, with the red carpet show hosted by Matt Winer, Steve Smith and Rick Kamla starts at 6:30pm.

Also: while we’re a bit late on the Iverson retrospective (which ran yesterday), there’s still time to see a whole bunch of special Shaq and Yao content. This Wednesday starting at 10am on Hardwood Classics there’ll be a showing of some great O’Neal games, plus an interview with Ernie Johnson at 8pm. Same goes for Yao on Thursday starting at 9am with a few Ming specials.

Just to spin this back to the Raptors, as we do: Are there any current or past Raptors who could eventually make it into the Hall of Fame? Right now it feels tough to envision.

What do you guys think?