Former Houston Rocket Tracy McGrady acknowledges the crowd during a game between the Charlotte Bobcats and Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on October 30, 2013, in Houston, Texas. AFP
LOS ANGELES, United States — Two-time NBA scoring champion Tracy McGrady headlines the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2017 announced on Saturday.
“I couldn’t believe it,” McGrady said on Twitter after being told of the news. “I had him repeat it again.”
McGrady won NBA scoring titles in 2002-03 at 32.1 points per game and again the following year at 28.0, both while playing for the Orlando Magic.
A seven-time NBA All-Star after being picked ninth overall by the Toronto Raptors in the 1997 draft, McGrady averaged 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 rebounds for seven teams in his 15-year NBA career.
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McGrady also played for the Houston Rockets, New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks and San Antonio Spurs.
Other inductees for 2017 include women’s star Rebecca Lobo, former Chicago Bulls general manager Jerry Krause, and Greek legend Nick Galis.
Lobo led the University of Connecticut Huskies to their first NCAA Women’s Championship in 1995 with a perfect 35-0 season.
She won a gold medal for the United States at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and played six seasons in the WNBA for the New York Liberty, Houston Comets and Connecticut Sun.
Krause, who died on March 21, was the architect of the Bulls teams led by Michael Jordan that won six NBA championships from 1991 to 1998.
Galis, one of the top European scorers in the history of the game, led Greece to the 1987 Eurobasket title as top scorer and MVP of the tournament.
Galis was the Greek League top scorer from 1981 to 1991 and scoring leader in European Champions Cup from 1986 to 1992 and in 1994. CBB