BATON ROUGE – The days are counting down for the Friday enshrinement ceremony for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2016 which includes former LSU and NBA icon Shaquille O’Neal.
The ceremony, presented by Nike, will be held at the Springfield Symphony Hall and televised on NBA-TV.
Wednesday, in honor of O’Neal’s entrance to the Hall, NBA-TV will showcase some of Shaq’s greatest NBA efforts but the highlight of the day will be the premier of a one-on-one hour-long interview with O’Neal and his TNT colleague Ernie Johnson at 7 p.m. The two will discuss O’Neal’s childhood and his relationship with his stepfather in an in-depth look at how they influenced his Hall of Fame career.
Also on Tuesday, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the list of Hall of Famers who will present this year’s class at the ceremony.
Members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2016 were asked to select a previous inductee to accompany and present them to their peers. The choice is solely the decision of the incoming Hall of Famer. More than 50 Hall of Famers are expected to be in attendance for this year’s ceremony, including all presenters.
O’Neal will have some of the other icons of the game present him — Julius Erving (class of ’93), Alonzo Mourning (class of ’14), Bill Russell (class of ’75), Isiah Thomas (class of ’00).
Besides O’Neal, the former All-American at LSU and three-time NBA Finals MVP, the class of 2016 inductees includes ABA superstar Zelmo Beaty, 27-year NBA referee Darell Garretson, 11-time NBA All-Star Allen Iverson, two-time NABC Coach of the Year Tom Izzo, the first African-American coach in a professional league John McLendon, early African American Pioneer Cumberland Posey, iconic Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, four-time WNBA Champion Sheryl Swoopes and global ambassador of the game Yao Ming.