Amar’e Stoudemire Headed to Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2026
Amar’e Stoudemire, the American-Israeli basketball star who converted to Judaism after retiring, is set for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2026.
He will be inducted alongside Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers and WNBA players Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne, ESPN reported.
The 43-year-old Stoudemire played 14 NBA seasons, eight with the Phoenix Suns, who retired his No. 32 in 2024. He was a six-time All-Star, the 2003 NBA Rookie of the Year, and won a bronze medal with the U.S. team at the 2004 Olympics.
He also played in Israel, winning two Israeli Basketball Premier League championships, being named an All-Star twice, and earning Finals MVP honors in 2020. He joined the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame last year.
Stoudemire converted to Judaism in 2020. He is affiliated with the Black Hebrew Israelites, who believe African Americans descend from ancient Israelites.
He has coached at the Maccabiah Games (the world’s largest Jewish athletic competition, held every four years in Israel), owns a line of kosher wine, and left an assistant coaching role with the Brooklyn Nets in 2022 so that he could shabbos. On Instagram, he often posts about learning gemara and other seforim.
He joins Jewish basketball icons in the Hall, including Sue Bird, Nancy Lieberman, Nat Holman, Barney Sedran, Max Friedman, and Dolph Schayes, the only other Jewish player with a retired NBA number.
Non-players include coaches Red Auerbach and Harry Litwack, Harlem Globetrotters founder Abe Saperstein, executive Eddie Gottlieb, NBA commissioner Maurice Podoloff, referee Dave Tobey, and pioneer of women’s basketball Senda Berenson Abbott, the first woman inducted in 1985.
The official Hall of Fame announcement is April 4, with the induction scheduled for the weekend of August 14.
