Wyoming County native Mike D’Antoni will soon be enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. D’Antoni is one of nine inductees that officially received the call from the hall on Saturday during Final Four activities in Indianapolis.
Enshrinement festivities on will be held August 14-15.
“It’s amazing to be with these people and be with them all weekend. A lot of things go through your mind, and you could never dream as a kid, which you dream a lot from a small town in West Virginia, to be able to achieve certain things, but this is unimaginable to be here with these people and the road and the journey,” D’Antoni said at a press conference Saturday.
“Then you start thinking of all the people that helped you along the way, you’re overwhelmed with emotion. To be able to share with my family, my wife Laurel and my son Michael, is beyond anyone’s human emotion capability.”
D’Antoni was selected to the Hall of Fame by the Contributors Committee. An important figure in the evolution of modern basketball, D’Antoni influenced the game through innovation via his up-tempo, space-and-pace philosophy that helped redefine offensive strategy, emphasizing ball movement, shooting and efficiency, and shaping the analytics-driven era of the sport. D’Antoni’s impact spans continents, having coached professionally in Italy for eight seasons before bringing his ideas to the NBA, where he amassed nearly 1,200 career wins. He was recognized as one of the 50 Greatest Contributors in EuroLeague history in 2008.
D’Antoni is a native of Mullens and he graduated from Marshall University in 1973. He played professionally for 17 years, the last 14 years for Olimpia Milano in Italy.
D’Antoni immediately jumped into coaching following the end of his playing career in 1990. He would serve NBA head coaching tenures with the Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers and the Houston Rockets. He earned NBA Coach of the Year honors in 2005 and 2017. D’Antoni also served as an assistant coach for gold medal-winning Team USA squads in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.