On Thursday, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame announced the 2026 class of inductees. The list is headlined by women’s basketball greats such as Lady Vols legend Candace Parker, WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne, and current head coach of the Minnesota Lynx Cheryl Reeve. The induction ceremony will be held on June 27, 2026, at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville.
The rest of the players include French basketball star Isabelle Fijalkowski, who has won five French League championships and played for the Cleveland Rockers from 1997 to 1998, and Amaya Valdemoro of Spain, who won three titles with the Houston Comets in 1998, 1999 and 2000. She also won eight Spanish league titles and played for Spain in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. All-time ACC scoring leader and former Clemson star Barbara Kennedy-Dixon will also be inducted as a posthumous Veteran honoree.
NJCCA Hall of Famer and Kirkwood Community College head coach Kim Muhl, who has won over 1,000 games in his 36-year coaching career, will join Reeve on the coaching side. ESPN analyst Doris Burke is also included in the 2026 class. She has worked for the sports media company since 1991.
“We are honored to pay tribute to eight distinguished legends of this exceptional sport,” Hall of Fame president Dana Hart said in a press release. “They exemplify the highest standards in women’s basketball and have made substantial contributions to the sport, along with shaping the game’s historical trajectory.”
Throughout her 16 seasons leading the Lynx, Reeve has won four titles and has been crowned WNBA Coach of the Year four times. In addition to this, she guided the U.S. women’s basketball national team to a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
During her time on the court, Delle Donne helped the Washington Mystics win a WNBA championship in 2019. She also won two WNBA MVPs and made seven All-Star appearances throughout her career. In 2016, she joined the U.S. women’s basketball team at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games and won a gold medal. Following her retirement in April 2025, Delle Donne was named the national team managing director of the USA Basketball 3×3 team.
Parker had a tremendous career at the collegiate level in Tennessee under head coach Pat Summitt and continued to have a remarkable professional career, being named the WNBA’s MVP in 2008 and 2013 and winning three WNBA championships in 2016, 2021 and 2023. Parker also helped the U.S. win Olympic gold medals in 2008 and 2012. She retired from the league in April 2024.
The WBHOF is meant to honor the history of the sport and celebrate all the achievements within it. Each inductee will be awarded the Berenson Trophy, which is sponsored by Smith College and named after notable Smith College coach Senda Berenson. The inductees will also receive a WBHOF ring.
“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out now!
Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.