Former Chicago Sky stars Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne and Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve headline the 2026 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame class that was announced Thursday.
Other players getting inducted June 27 are international stars Isabelle Fijalkowski of France and Amaya Valdemoro of Spain, former Clemson All-American Barbara Kennedy-Dixon, Kirkwood Community College coach Kim Muhl and ESPN announcer Doris Burke.
“We are honored to pay tribute to eight distinguished legends of this exceptional sport,” Hall of Fame President Dana Hart said. “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.”
Parker, a Naperville Central alumna, won three WNBA championships for three teams — the Los Angeles Sparks (2016), the Sky (2021) and the Las Vegas Aces (2023) — two league MVP awards and two Olympic gold medals with Team USA.
Delle Donne, recently named the national team director of USA Basketball’s 3-on-3 team, won two WNBA MVP awards — with the Sky in 2015 and the Washington Mystics in 2019 — made seven All-Star appearances in 11 seasons and helped the Mystics win a league championship in 2019.
Parker announced her retirement from the WNBA before the 2024 season and Delle Donne did likewise in April after sitting out in 2024. Players must be retired for four full seasons before becoming eligible for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, according to the hall’s website.
Reeve has won four titles in her 16 years in charge of the Lynx. She has won WNBA Coach of the Year four times and Executive of the Year twice. She also led the U.S. to a gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Fijalkowski won five French League championships and played for the Cleveland Rockers for two years in the WNBA.
Valdemoro won three WNBA titles with the Houston Comets from 1998-2000 and eight Spanish League titles. She played for Spain in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.
Kennedy-Dixon was the first Division I scoring leader in 1982, when women’s basketball became an NCAA sport.
Muhl has won more than 1,000 games in nearly four decades of coaching and led his teams to nine national championships.
Burke has been a basketball voice for three decades, working at ESPN since 1991. She was a huge part of the network’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament and WNBA. She also was a trailblazer working on ESPN’s men’s college basketball and NBA coverage starting in 2003. She became part of the network’s lead broadcasting team in 2023.
