Days before the 2023-24 NBA Season is set to begin, it will have to do so without Andre Iguodala, who announced his retirement.

Taken ninth overall in the 2004 by the Philadelphia 76ers, Iguodala had a good run there, where he was an All-Star in 2011-12, and had a four-year streak where he averaged at least 17 Points per Game.  After his All-Star year, Iguodala was traded to Denver, and a season after he was dealt to Golden State, where he had his greatest team success.

After his second season with the Warriors, Iguodala was moved to the bench, but it was a great fit on a team that was loaded with young superstars like Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.  Iguodala helped the Dubs win four Championships, with Iguodala making history as the first (and only) player to win the Finals MVP (2015) as a non-starter.

Iguodala is unlikely to enter the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame (he is now eligible in 2027), but we expect him to be ranked on our Notinhalloffame.com Basketball list of those to consider for the Hall once his eligibility year comes up.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com wish Andre Iguodala the best in his post-playing career.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB.  Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players, coaches and executives.  As such, it is important to us that the

St. Louis Blues have announced that Pavol Demetria, Mike Liut and Keith Tkachuk will comprise their second full class.

Pavol Demetria was traded from the Ottawa Senators in 1996 and the Slovak would blossom two years later with an 89-Point season.  Demetria continued to be a point-per-game player with St. Louis, and would win the Lady Byng in the 1999-00 Season and played in three All-Star Games.  He signed with the Los Angeles Kings in 2005 after scoring 493 Points in 494 Games.  Tragically, this is a posthumous induction, as he was one of the players killed in the Lokomotiv Yarozlavl plane crash in 2011.

Mike Liut played his first two seasons of pro hockey with the Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA, and when that league folded, he joined the St. Louis Blues, who owned his NHL rights.  Liut immediately took over as the Blues primary Goalie, and held that for five-and-a-half years before he was traded to Hartford.  Liut’s first three seasons in St. Louis were excellent, peaking in the 1980-81 Season where he was the runner-up for the Hart, and the Lester B. Pearson winner.  He had a 151-139-52 record with a 3.59 GAA for the team.

Traded from the Phoenix Coyotes during the 2000-01 Season, Keith Tkachuk spent the second half of his career (save for 13 Games in Atlanta) with the Blues where he scored 427 Points.  He was an All-Star twice as a Blue.

The Blues Hall of Fame was incorporated last year with a large class that comprised Red Berenson, Scotty Bowman, Berne Federko, Bob Gassoff, Glenn Hall, Brett Hull, Dan Kelly, Al MacInnis, Barclay Plager, Bob Plager, Chris Pronger, the Solomons, Brent Sutter and Garry Unger

The team will honor the three during their home game on January 20 against the Washington Capitals.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the impending members of the St. Louis Blues Hall of Fame.

Hall of Fame season continues with the Baseball Hall’s announcement of the eight names on the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee for Managers/Executives/Umpires.  The Committee will meet on December 3 at the Winter Meetings in Nashville, and the results will be shared that night at 7:30 on MLB Tonight on the MLB Network.

To enter the Hall, the candidate must receive 75 percent of the 16-person group. 

Here are the nominees:

Cito Gaston:  Gaston managed the Toronto Blue Jays for 12 seasons, and he helmed to back-to-back World Series wins in 1992 and 1993.  Making history as the first African-American Manager to win a World Series, Gaston has a career record of 894-837, and is a member of the Toronto Blue Jays Level of Excellence.

Davey Johnson:  Johnson managed 17 seasons in the Majors, with his career-highlight leading the New York Mets to a 1986 World Series Championship.  Johnson won two Manager of the Year Awards (1997 & 2012) and had a record of 1,372-1,071.

Jim Leyland:  Leyland is a three-time Manager of the Year (1990, 1992 & 2006), and led the Florida Marlins to their improbable 1997 World Series title.  With a career record of 1,769-1,728 and helmed the United States to victory in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Ed Montague:  Montague served as an Umpire from 1974 to 2009 and was the Crew Chief in four World Series.

Hank Peters:  Peters worked 42 years as a Baseball Executive, first becoming a General Manager with the Kansas City Athletics helping them build their dynasty.  He would later serve as the GM in Baltimore, where he constructed their 1983 Championship squad.  He later rebuilt the Cleveland Indians into a power in the 90s.

Lou Piniella:  A 23-year veteran as a Manager, Piniella brought Cincinnati a World Series in 1990, and was a three-time Manager of the Year (1995, 2001 & 2008).  He had a lifetime record of 1,835-1,712.

Joe West: West umpired from 1976 to 2021, officiating a record 43 years and 5,460 Games.  He worked six World Series and ten League Championship Series.

Bill White:  White was the first African American President of a League, having served in that capacity in the NL from 1989 to 1994.

You know that we will be paying attention December 3!

The Las Vegas Aces are a special team, having just won their second straight championship, and could be a squad that has a chance to be a WNBA dynasty.

Whenever a title is won, it naturally helps key players make their respective Halls of Fame, and this win could help bring five women closer to Springfield.

Despite not winning what would have been her third MVP (she finished third) A’Ja Wilson is the team’s star, leader, and arguably the new face of the league.  She has only played six seasons, but the Basketball Hall does not have any minimum level of service.  No eligible player in either the WNBA or NBA who is a two-time MVP and two-time Champion will fail to gain enshrinement.  She might be well under 30, but Wilson is a first ballot entrant now!

Wilson is Las Vegas’ certifiable star, but one player can win a title alone.  Chelsea Gray, who is a nine-year veteran, added a fifth All-Star this year, and is a three-time WNBA Champion, two with the Aces and her first with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2018.

Jackie Young, who arguably was Las Vegas’ second best player this season, is not a Hall of Famer yet, but the number two on a dynasty can walk into a Hall (see, Pippen, Scottie).  At only 26, the best should be yet to come for Aces’ Guard.

Kelsey Plum, who is one of Vegas’ most popular stars, might be helped the most.  Approaching 30, Plum has only been an All-Star two times, but like the others, is not a repeat champion.  Her resume is already bolstered by her popularity (that shouldn’t matter, but it does), and the fact that she is the all-time NCAA scoring leader, and remember that the Hall looks at all aspects of a player’s career.

The Basketball Hall of Fame can reward people multiple times, and Becky Hammon is on her way to becoming a member of that elusive club.  Hammon, who was already inducted into the Hall as a player, has now coached the Aces to two Titles, and was already. A successful Assistant Coach in the NBA with the Spurs for many years, proving that a woman could succeed in that role.

An honorable mention is Mark Davis, who bought the team in 2021, and has already won two titles.  Under his watch, the Aces built the WNBA’s first state of the art training facility, rivaling that of any league. The Hall will not likely honor someone with such a short run, but no owner in the WNBA rivals Davis’ impact.