Andre Iguodala has a chance to be second, but the NBA player won the Final MVP and did not win the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
For many NBA players, winning the Final MVP is the best achievement of their careers. Not only does it almost guarantee they are champions at some point, but it also points out that they are at the best when the stakes were the best.
This award has a unique history. First winner Jerry West remains the only player to bring hardware home while on a losing team. Michael Jordan has six, most of them, and only LeBron James has won awards on three different teams.
But Boston Celtics legend Cedric Maxwell has perhaps the worst claim to the fame of Final MVP.
West is award-winning and deeply embarrassed to lose the 1969 final, but he is still a game legend. He is enshrined in the Nysmith Hall of Fame as a player, general manager and Olympian.
Of all players eligible to win the Finals MVP, Maxwell is not the only player who has made the Hall of Fame. In 2024, Chauncey Billups became the latest Finals MVP.
Maxwell played eight seasons for Boston, averaging 13.7 points and 6.6 rebounds. He won two rings for Boston and won the Finals MVP in 1981 when Boston defeated the Houston Rockets in six games.
In that series, Maxwell surpassed Larry Bird, driving the Celtics to their 14th title.
He didn’t create the NBA Hall of Fame when he was qualified, but mainly thanks to the fact that he never made an All-Star team. In fact, in addition to being the only qualified Finals MVP, not Springfield, he is the only winner who has never made an All-Star Game.
Players are eligible to create a Hall of Fame five years after retirement. Virtually all of the final MVPs that are not yet recognized are rocks for creating the Hall of Fame.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jaylen Brown, Nikola Jokic, Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Lebron James, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant are all locks for making holes. According to the model for basketball references, Andre Iguodara is only 12.69% likely.
Certainly, 11 players with worse odds have already been enshed, and the nostalgia surrounding the “Splash Brothers” Golden State Warriors may be enough to put him in.
Iguodara’s best achievements have been scrutinized for a long time as he won the 2015 Final MVP and believes curry, including Iguodara himself, is worthy of him.
The Basketball Hall of Fame is the easiest of all major sports, and Iguo Dara’s nearly 20 years of two-way success and four total championships may be enough to take him.