Former WNBA star Elena Delle Donne and revered college coach Mark Few are part of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2026 class, league sources confirmed.
Delle Donne, an Olympic gold medalist, WNBA champion, two-time league MVP and seven-time All-Star, retired in 2025 after an illustrious career with the Chicago Sky and Washington Mystics. Few, one of the winningest coaches in college basketball, turned the Gonzaga men’s program into a national powerhouse and earned the Naismith Coach of the Year award twice. He was also part of the coaching staff for the men’s Olympic team that won gold at the Paris Games in 2024.
Delle Donne and Few are two of 21 on a list of finalists, released Feb. 11, up for induction for the Class of 2026.
Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers and former WNBA great Candace Parker are also among the candidates. Parker’s agency congratulated her via Instagram on Tuesday, though league sources have yet to confirm her induction.
“I can’t (comment) right now, but it would be great if it’s true,” Rivers said in a news conference before the Bucks’ game against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday. “It would mean the world to me. I’ve done a lot. The numbers are the numbers, but it’s not — I swear — it’s not why I got into this, honestly, man. It’s the relationships. It’s the people.”
The complete class of inductees is to be announced Saturday during the men’s NCAA Tournament Final Four broadcast.
Elena Delle Donne averaged just shy of 1.5 blocks per game over her career. (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
Elena Delle Donne
NCAA season leading scorer (2012), WNBA Rookie of the Year (2013), WNBA MVP (2015, 2019), WNBA champion (2019)
Before becoming a prominent WNBA fixture, Delle Donne walked on to the volleyball team at the University of Delaware and led the team to the conference title before joining the basketball team, where she led the nation in scoring as a junior and took her team to the Sweet 16 as a senior. Delle Donne was selected No. 2 in the 2013 WNBA Draft by the Chicago Sky and led the team in 2014 to its first appearance in the finals. Her 2013 draft class included Brittney Griner and Skylar Diggins-Smith and is regarded as one of the most influential classes in the league.
After being traded to the Mystics in 2017, the 6-foot-5 forward won her WNBA championship and second league MVP in 2019, making her the first player to earn the honor with two different franchises. An elite shooter, Delle Donne has the league’s all-time leading free-throw percentage (93.7) and was the first WNBA player to achieve the 50-40-90 mark for a single season. Her versatility quickly attracted attention among opponents, as Delle Donne’s nimble ballhandling paired with her height and lethal shooting made her a threat in every aspect of the game. In addition to her 2016 Rio Olympic gold, she has gold medals from the 2018 FIBA World Cup and 2011 World University Games.
Delle Donne is also an outspoken advocate for those with Lyme disease and has talked openly about her struggles with the illness. She is also a champion of disability awareness, inspired by her older sister Lizzie. — Emily Ohman, staff writer
Mark Few is the winningest active coach by winning percentage. (Myk Crawford / Getty Images)
Mark Few
Gonzaga head coach (1999– ), 773 wins, 2017 AP Coach of the Year, two NCAA championship appearances
Few has molded Gonzaga from an obscure mid-major men’s basketball program into a national power in his 27 seasons. His impact was immediate, leading the Bulldogs to the Sweet 16 in his first two seasons (2000 and 2001), becoming the second head coach in the nation to accomplish this feat since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
Since then, Few has become synonymous with winning. His Gonzaga teams have won the WCC Tournament championship 21 times and have made the NCAA Tournament in all 27 seasons, clinching an automatic bid in 2020 before it was canceled due to COVID-19. The Bulldogs made the NCAA title game in 2017 and 2021 but lost both times.
His winning percentage (.832) is the highest in NCAA history for coaches with over 600 games. He is the only coach to win eight or more consecutive conference championships twice and owns a host of WCC and Gonzaga wins records. He currently ranks 19th all-time in wins, one spot ahead of 2016 Naismith Hall of Fame inductee Tom Izzo. Few becomes the fifth active Division I coach to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He has coached 12 first-round NBA Draft picks. — Devon Henderson, staff writer
This story will be updated.