The inductee list for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame (HOF) Class of 2021 has been confirmed: Ben Wallace, Chris Bosh, Paul Pierce, Chris Webber, Bill Russell, Rick Adelman, Jay Wright, Yolanda Griffith, Lauren Jackson, Bob Dandridge, Toni Kukoc, Pearl Moore, Clarence Jenkins, Val Ackerman, Cotton Fitzsimmons and Howard Garfinkel.

They will be enshrined on September 11.

Pierce and Bosh were both granted the honor in their first year as a finalist. Pierce, a 10-time NBA All-Star, joined hands with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in 2008, winning the NBA Championship for the Boston Celtics. Pierce was named the Finals MVP after averaging 21.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game in that series.

Allen and Garnett were already enshrined, with Pierce joining them soon.

Bosh is an 11-time All-Star. He and LeBron James joined Dwyane Wade in the Miami Heat in summer 2010 to make one of the most dominant Big 3 in NBA history. Having made the NBA Finals four straight times between 2011 and 2014, Bosh won two titles with the Heat. On March 26, 2019, the Heat retired the No. 1 jersey of Bosh.

"It was short-lived, in my opinion. I wanted to play a lot longer; unfortunately it came to an abrupt end. But just looking back on everything I was able to accomplish, all the friends I was able to make, the connections I made, all the memories we were able to make together, that's what's most important," said Bosh of his career.

Five-time All Star big man Webber had been a finalist for HOF for the past five years – finally making it this time. As the most talented power forward back then, Webber gave his best years to the Sacramento Kings between 1998 and 2005. Having averaged 27.1 points, 11.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.7 blocks during the 2000-01 season, Webber was not only named the All-NBA First Team, but also received the fourth-most votes for MVP following Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson.

"I'm just thankful man, thankful... I'm just in shock, I really don't know what to say," said Webber to his former University of Michigan teammate Jalen Rose after hearing the news.

Wallace will become the first undrafted Hall of Famer in modern era as no team selected him in that legendary NBA Draft in 1996. Though he started his career in a tougher way than others, it did not keep Wallace from developing into a top defender. Wallace is a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, an NBA record shared with Dikembe Mutombo. Wallace, as a member of the Detroit Pistons, beat the Los Angeles Lakers to win the 2004 Championship.

Russell will be inducted into the HOF for the second time, as a coach this time. He already became a Hall of Famer in 1975 as a player, but Russell also won two titles as head coach of the Boston Celtics in the late 1960s. There are four others who've been enshrined twice as both player and coach before him: John Wooden, Lenny Wilkens, Bill Sharman and Tommy Heinsohn.

No honor is too much for the 11-time NBA champion.

As for others, Adelman won 1,042 games as a head coach, the ninth-most in NBA history; Wright had two NCAA Championships; both Griffith and Jackson are seven-time WNBA All-Star and Jackson is also three-time WNBA MVP; Jenkins is an Early African-American Pioneer; Ackerman is a former WNBA president; Fitzsimmons was a two-time NBA Coach of the Year; Garfinkel created the Five-Star summer camp; Moore was named by the women's veterans committee; two-time NBA champion Dandridge was named by the veterans committee; the international committee named Toni Kukoc, who won three titles in a row as the Sixth Man of the Year with Michael Jordan in the Chicago Bulls between 1996 and 1998.

(Cover photo by CGTN's Liu Shaozhen)