Vince Carter, Jamal Crawford highlight eligible players in 2024 class

The 2024 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class won’t be as star-studded as recent years, but it’ll still feature some deserving names who’ll have the orange jackets and gold ring added to their list of post-career accomplishments.

In recent years, players like Tim Hardaway and Chris Webber were let in after somewhat lengthy waits and doubts about whether they’d be enshrined. They were stars who had a profound impact on the game. Next year, could some game-changing specialists make the cut?

Vince Carter

Carter is easily the biggest name on the list, the player who went from supernova to valuable vet through his 22-year NBA career. It’s easy to forget how the “Next Jordan” comparisons felt valid for a while when he stepped on the scene in Toronto following the 1998 lockout.

In 2001, he finished just outside the top 10 in MVP voting, averaging 27.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists in taking the Raptors to within a game of the East finals. Many will remember he flew to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to attend his college graduation on the morning of Game 7 of the conference semifinals against Allen Iverson’s Philadelphia 76ers, catching plenty of criticism.

Subsequently, his potential game-winner bounced off the rim at the buzzer and he was second-guessed for years after. It seemed to follow him, coloring the media’s view of him as a superstar, especially as he battled injuries his last couple years in Toronto.

Even his first few years following the tumultuous trade led to some spectacular seasons with the then-New Jersey Nets alongside Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson, the last of his eight straight All-Star seasons occurring in the 2006-07 season.

From there, he was well traveled but effective in ways other players of his stature wouldn’t allow themselves to be, going to Dallas, Memphis, Sacramento (remember that?) and Atlanta.

He crossed the 25,000-point mark, good for 20th all-time. The 19 ahead of him are all either Hall of Famers or locks to get there because they’re still playing (or just-retired Carmelo Anthony). He never made an NBA Finals, but there’s not even a question whether he gets in.

Chauncey Billups

Billups was the Finals MVP in 2004 for the Detroit Pistons, but he’s worth far more than that, even though he was a vagabond early and late in his career. He’s far longer into his candidacy than a few others, having retired after the 2013-14 season. But his résumé gives more credence than many would think at first blush. Basketball-Reference.com lists his Hall probability at 84.4%, not far behind Carter’s.

The championship, one more Finals…