In the first year in which he could be selected, Emanuel Ginóbili, winner of four NBA rings, will become the first Argentine to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Source: AFP
Ginobili, a sports legend from his country and one of the best NBA players born outside the United States, is part of the class of 2022 announced Saturday by the Hall of Fame.
The group’s induction ceremony will take place the weekend of September 9-10 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Argentine, who played his entire career in the NBA in the uniform of the San Antonio Spurs, will be only the fifth Latin American, male or female, to be immortalized in this institution after the Brazilians Oscar Schmidt, Maciel Periera and Hortencia Marcari and the Panamanian John Isaacs.
“I am very excited and I feel very honored to be part of this group,” Ginóbili, retired from the courts in 2018, declared after the announcement.
“This is something that one cannot believe is happening to him. I started playing basketball in Bahía Blanca, in Argentina, and I didn’t even consider that this could be a goal”, acknowledged Ginóbili from San Antonio (Texas), where he has been working with the Spurs since September in an advisory role.
The shooting guard from Bahía Blanca, leader of the Argentine team that won the gold medal in Athens-2004, played for the San Antonio Spurs between 2002 and 2018, with whom he was proclaimed champion four times (2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014). forming a memorable trio with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker under manager Gregg Popovich.
“If I am going to be in the Hall of Fame in September, it is for having been part of that team, of that generation (Argentina) that achieved so many things and in parallel with an organization as successful as the Spurs,” Ginóbili, 44, thanked. years.
“I have been very fortunate to be part of those two iconic teams,” he stressed.
‘Manu’, whose number 20 was retired in 2019 by the Spurs, was selected for two All-Star Games (2005 and 2011), won the Best Sixth Man award in 2008 and left the NBA with a total of 14,043 points , 4,001 assists, 3,697 rebounds and 1,392 steals.
– “There are no words” –
In addition to his successful career in the NBA, Ginóbili was also the greatest figure of the Golden Generation of Argentine basketball, along with Luis Scola, Fabricio Oberto and Andrés Nocioni, reaching the first Olympic gold in basketball for the country, in the Games of Athens-2004.
“It’s very difficult to compare that achievement to anything else because we weren’t supposed to be there. Argentina was not supposed to play the United States in the semifinal or to go for the gold medal,” Ginobili recalled of the Olympic triumph.
“Achieving that kind of recognition with a group of friends who have played together for many years and basically grown up together is incomprehensible. There are no words that can do justice to that feeling,” said the shooting guard, who also won an Olympic bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Before making the jump to the NBA, Ginóbili also triumphed in Europe, winning an Italian league and a Euroleague with Virtus Bologna.
To be selected this Saturday, “Manu” needed to receive at least 18 of the 24 votes of the Honors Committee, made up of Hall of Fame members, executives, journalists and other experts.
Other figures chosen for the Class of 2022 of the Hall of Fame are former player Tim Hardaway, a figure of the Warriors and the Heat and chosen five times for the All-Star Game, and former coach George Karl, sixth coach with the most victories in the NBA and winner of the Coach of the Year award in 2013.
