clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Rudy Tomjanovich’s Hall of Fame enshrinement pushed to 2021

The wait continues.

NBA: New Orleans Pelicans at Houston Rockets Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

We’ve already waited a long time for former Houston Rockets player and championship-winning head coach Rudy Tomjanovich to be elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, and now we’re going to have to wait just a little bit longer.

According to ESPN, this year’s enshrinement is being pushed to the Spring of 2021, after chairman of the Hall board Jerry Colangelo deemed the original enshrinement dates of August 28-30 and the alternate dates of October 10-12 as being to soon following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Colangelo told ESPN:

“We’re definitely canceling. It’s going to have to be the first quarter of next year. We’ll meet in a couple of weeks and look at the options of how and when and where.”

Rudy T was inexplicably passed over for the Hall for years despite winning two NBA titles and a gold medal with Team USA at the 2000 Olympics. He finished his NBA career with a 527-416 regular season record and a 51-39 playoff record.

In addition to Rudy T, the other new members due to be enshrined are former NBA stars Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, to go along with Tamika Catchings, a 10-time WNBA All-Star, Baylor women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey, Bentley College women’s basketball coach Barbara Stevens, Patrick Bauman, a former FIBA executive, and ex-college coach Eddie Sutton, who just passed away and joins Bryant as members we sadly lost this year.

It seems like it’s been a forever wait for our man, Rudy T, and now that it’s been extended even longer, it is a little frustrating for those of us who have been pulling for the guy all these year, but at least there’s an end in sight, albeit not exactly how it was envisioned.