Although the bar for entry into the Naismith Hall of Fame isn’t quite as intense as entry into Cooperstown (where the Baseball Hall of Fame resides) or Canton, Ohio (where the Pro Football Hall of Fame is), becoming a Hall of Famer as a basketball player is still the ultimate honor the sport offers.
Below, we present the best former NBA players not currently in the Hall of Fame. Some of these players have yet to reach the three years of retirement needed to be considered for entry while others have been waiting for a while and might be out of luck as far as getting in. Luckily for the latter group, the Basketball Hall of Fame doesn’t have a rule where they remove players from consideration if they haven’t made it in after a certain number of chances.
(Note: We are only including non-active players. Players like DeMarcus Cousins might get in one day but he, for example, is still playing professionally overseas.)