Hall of Fame Players With the Shortest Waits Before Induction

Posted by Neil Paine on January 12, 2011

Since there's a certain primacy to players who required fewer "ballots" for Hall of Fame induction, here is everyone in the Basketball Hall of Fame who played in the NBA/ABA/BAA, sorted by the fewest years between their final NBA/ABA/BAA season and the HoF class in which they were inducted:

Player	Final Yr	Inducted	Diff
Bob Cousy¹	1970	1971	1
Ed Macauley²	1959	1960	1
George Mikan ²	1956	1959	3
Andy Phillip ²	1958	1961	3
Elgin Baylor³	1972	1977	5
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	1989	1995	6
Charles Barkley	2000	2006	6
Larry Bird	1992	1998	6
Bill Bradley	1977	1983	6
Wilt Chamberlain	1973	1979	6
Clyde Drexler	1998	2004	6
Alex English	1991	1997	6
Julius Erving	1987	1993	6
Patrick Ewing	2002	2008	6
John Havlicek	1978	1984	6
Elvin Hayes	1984	1990	6
Magic Johnson	1996	2002	6
Michael Jordan	2003	2009	6
Jerry Lucas	1974	1980	6
Karl Malone	2004	2010	6
Moses Malone	1995	2001	6
Kevin McHale	1993	1999	6
Hakeem Olajuwon	2002	2008	6
Robert Parish	1997	2003	6
Bob Pettit	1965	1971	6
Scottie Pippen	2004	2010	6
Oscar Robertson	1974	1980	6
David Robinson	2003	2009	6
Bill Russell	1969	1975	6
John Stockton	2003	2009	6
Isiah Thomas	1994	2000	6
Bill Walton	1987	1993	6
Jerry West	1974	1980	6
Tiny Archibald	1984	1991	7
Rick Barry	1980	1987	7
Joe Dumars	1999	2006	7
Walt Frazier	1980	1987	7
Pete Maravich	1980	1987	7
Wes Unseld	1981	1988	7
Dominique Wilkins	1999	2006	7
Dave Cowens	1983	1991	8
Cliff Hagan	1970	1978	8
Dan Issel	1985	1993	8
Bob Lanier	1984	1992	8
Willis Reed	1974	1982	8
Nate Thurmond	1977	1985	8
Dave DeBusschere	1974	1983	9
Hal Greer	1973	1982	9
Drazen Petrovic	1993	2002	9
Dolph Schayes	1964	1973	9
James Worthy	1994	2003	9
Billy Cunningham	1976	1986	10
George Gervin	1986	1996	10
Tom Gola	1966	1976	10
Earl Monroe	1980	1990	10
Calvin Murphy	1983	1993	10
Dave Bing	1978	1990	12
David Thompson	1984	1996	12
Bob McAdoo	1986	2000	14
Lenny Wilkens	1975	1989	14
Bob Davies	1955	1970	15
Sam Jones	1969	1984	15
Bill Sharman	1961	1976	15
Paul Arizin	1962	1978	16
Connie Hawkins	1976	1992	16
Adrian Dantley	1991	2008	17
Gail Goodrich	1979	1996	17
Jack Twyman	1966	1983	17
Walt Bellamy	1975	1993	18
Frank Ramsey	1964	1982	18
Dennis Johnson	1990	2010	20
Tom Heinsohn	1965	1986	21
K.C. Jones	1967	1989	22
Slater Martin	1960	1982	22
Jim Pollard	1955	1978	23
Joe Fulks	1954	1978	24
Clyde Lovellette	1964	1988	24
Bailey Howell	1971	1997	26
Bob Houbregs	1958	1987	29
Bobby Wanzer	1957	1987	30
Neil Johnston	1959	1990	31
Al Cervi	1953	1985	32
Harry Gallatin	1958	1991	33
Dick McGuire	1960	1993	33
Vern Mikkelsen	1959	1995	36
George Yardley	1960	1996	36
Gus Johnson	1973	2010	37
Arnie Risen	1958	1998	40
Buddy Jeannette	1950	1994	44
Maurice Stokes	1958	2004	46

This is not necessarily a list of players with the shortest time between retirement from basketball and HoF induction. In most cases, "retirement from the NBA/ABA/BAA" and "retirement from basketball" are the same thing, but it's possible for a player to delay his eligibility by playing in a minor league after retiring from the "majors".

¹ - Cousy initially retired in 1963, which would have made him eligible for the Class of 1969. However, he returned to the NBA with the Royals for 7 games in 1969-70. After re-retiring, he maintained his earlier eligibility from 1969.
² - Inducted before HoF established the 5-year waiting period.
³ - Baylor played 9 games before retiring early in the 1971-72 season, so for the Hall of Fame's purposes he was eligible in 1977.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 12th, 2011 at 10:43 am and is filed under Awards, Data Dump, Hall of Fame, History, Trivia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

12 Responses to “Hall of Fame Players With the Shortest Waits Before Induction”

AHL Says:
January 12th, 2011 at 2:24 pm
So who's up next? Reggie Miller? Christian Laettener?
Jared Ras Says:
January 12th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
According to HOF Probability, Reggie Miller has a ~5% chance of making it, and Laettner must have less than 1.5% because he's not on the list.

Having said that, Miller will probably make it due to media bias.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/hof_prob_career.html
AYC Says:
January 12th, 2011 at 6:46 pm
Hah, that's funny... Reggie will probably make it on the first ballot. Not due to "media bias", though; he'll make it because he belongs there.
Rashidi Says:
January 13th, 2011 at 8:02 am
HoF Probability is obviously a bit flawed if Steve Francis is 5 times more likely to make it than Reggie Miller.
Mike Goodman Says:
January 13th, 2011 at 8:02 am
Some recent Reggie HOF discussion here:
http://apbr.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3526

I don't know if media are biased for or against Reggie Miller. I do know the Hall is about Fame, and that he has. Mostly deserved, mostly for his playoffs, not just against the Knicks.
Rashidi Says:
January 13th, 2011 at 8:12 am
Not to mention that is only judging NBA achievements whereas the hall is for the entire sport of basketball (meaning NCAA, International play, and other factors come into play).

Antoine Walker has a 21% chance of induction using this metric (maybe for the D-League Hall of Fame), while Yao Ming is 20.9%. Yao's career could be over right now and he'd still be a first ballot hall of famer simply based on what he has meant to the game of basketball worldwide.

Arvydas Sabonis is also absent from the list since only his NBA credentials were factored in; his international resume is much more impressive.

In short, Reggie will make it. He had a long career, played at a reasonably high level, was a clutch playoff performer with numerous memorable moments that will be referenced for quite a long time. He was the first player to utilize the 3pt shot as his primary weapon, which certainly counts for something. He wasn't the best player in the world, but let's be real, there are plenty of enshrined players who were worse.
AYC Says:
January 13th, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Reggie also has impressive WS numbers. For his best 10 year stretch (90-99), he averaged .192 WS48, .194 in the playoffs.
BallinUSA Says:
January 13th, 2011 at 5:30 pm
What a great post. Can't believe MJ is so far down on the list. I'm wondering if anyone has ever been inducted and then came out of retirement to play?
Jared Ras Says:
January 13th, 2011 at 11:39 pm
OK, looking at Reggie's stats, I'm inclined to believe the HOF Probability calculator made a glitch. The benchmark here is 25,000 points, which only 14 other players have done, and they're all Hall of Famers except the inevitable Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.

He also retired as (and still is) the all-time 3PTM leader.

I just ran the calculation for HOF Probability, and it weighs too much height (negatively) and championships. Reggie also has low values in APG and RPG, but he did play 15 seasons.
Jared Ras Says:
January 13th, 2011 at 11:40 pm
No glitch, the calculation checks out... the HOF Probability will probably miss on this one.
AYC Says:
January 14th, 2011 at 12:27 am
BallinUSA, Jordan isn't far down on the list; he was elected in his first year of eligibility, which means he's really at the top of the list, just tied with a bunch of other 1st ballot guys
Joe Krupnick Says:
January 14th, 2011 at 1:40 am
I usually don't come out in defense of Steve Nash, who most certainly didn't deserve one, much less two MVPs, but don't you think it's a little odd that HOF Probability has Nash at 39%? That seems extremely low, particularly for a two-time MVP, and when you consider that guys like Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady are at like 80% and when Tony Parker (??!) is at 56%. Here's a guy who's never cracked 10 winshares, who's only made the all-league team once, and has never been voted higher than 8th for MVP honors. Tony Parker.

If Parker goes in, I'm going to have to round up the troops for my man Horace Grant, who's got 4 rings (against Parker's current 3), and has almost 50 more career winshares.

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