Suns’ Amar’e Stoudemire, Kevin Johnson, Mike D’Antoni named Hall of Fame finalists

Phoenix Suns greats Amar’e Stoudemire and Kevin Johnson and former coach Mike D’Antoni were named Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame finalists on Wednesday.

Stoudemire and Johnson were part of 11 North American finalists. The other North American finalists include Joey Crawford, Mark Few, Blake Griffin, Gary McKnight, Dick Motta, Doc Rivers, Kelvin Sampson, Jerry Welsh and Buck Williams.

D’Antoni was nominated as a Contributor finalist along with Tal Brody.

All finalists will go through a final vote by the Honors Committee, where they will need at least 18 of 24 votes, before the Class of 2026 will be announced on April 4 at the men’s Final Four.

Stoudemire was drafted ninth overall by the Suns in 2002 out of high school and won Rookie of the Year in 2003. He was an All-NBA First Team selection in 2007, an All-NBA Second-Team selection in 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2011, led Phoenix to the playoffs five times and was an All-Star five times (2005, 2007-2010).

On the Suns’ franchise leaderboards, he’s seventh in points, third in rebounds and fifth in blocks. He averaged 21.4 points and 8.3 rebounds during his first eight seasons with the Suns (2002-10).

During the 2010 offseason, Stoudemire opted out of his contract with the Suns after a contract dispute with then-owner Robert Sarver. Because of injury concerns, the Suns didn’t want to offer Stoudemire a contract worth more than four years, which made him feel “unappreciated.”

A month later, after eight seasons in Phoenix, he signed with the New York Knicks and agreed to a five-year contract worth $99.7 million. Stoudemire retired six years later.

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