5 players who aren't in the Basketball Hall of Fame who should be

The Basketball Hall of Fame is the highest honor any basketball player, coach, general manager, or owner can receive.

Compared to the other halls of fame, such as the Baseball or Football Hall of Fame, it is much easier to get in for basketball. Not only are players and coaches in, but they have enshrined important media personalities such as Mike Breen and will soon be enshrining superfans like Spike Lee, Billy Crystal, and Jack Nicholson.

The Basketball Hall of Fame is not beating the allegations of it being easy to get in. Since it is easy to get in, these five players should deserve their spot in Springfield, Massachusetts.

5. Kevin Johnson

Kevin Johnson has one of the strangest Hall-of-Fame cases. He's remembered as Charles Barkley's co-star in Phoenix and one of the better point guards during the 1990s. The strange part is he was just a three-time All-Star but made five All-NBA teams. Four of his five All-NBA teams he was second team, and one of those years he wasn't an All-Star.

Johnson had a nine-year stretch from the 1988-89 season to the 1996-97 season where he averaged 19.8 points, 10 assists, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.6 steals on 49.7 percent shooting. Those are fantastic numbers for a guard, considering that Magic Johnson's career averages were 19.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 11.2 assists.

The reason Johnson has a strange case is that his accolades don't back his numbers. Any NBA player who consistently averaged 20 points and 10 assists would be a perineal All-Star but for some reason, he wasn’t.

For comparison’s sake, if you look at Reggie Miller's stats and accolades during that same nine-year stretch, Johnson's are better. Miller averaged 20.9 points, 3.4 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.3 steals on .485/.404/.881 splits. Miller was a three-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA (all were third-team selections).

Johnson's prime was great enough to get him a spot in the Hall of Fame, but the lack of recognition in terms of accolades hurts him from being in.

4. Tom Chambers

Tom Chambers is a player that the average, modern NBA fan hasn't heard about, but he had a great career. He was the eighth overall pick in the 1981 draft and played 16 seasons across six different teams (Clippers, SuperSonics, Suns, Jazz, Hornets, and 76ers).

He was great out the gate, averaging 17.2 points as a rookie. For the rest of his career, he was selected to four All-Star teams and had two All-NBA selections. During his seven-year peak from the 1984-85 season to the 1990-91 season, he averaged 22.5 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists. This includes a year where he averaged 27 points and seven rebounds while finishing eighth in the MVP voting.

Chambers scored a total of 20,049 points during his career which is more than Hall-of-Famers Scottie Pippen, Bernard King, Walter Davis, and Bob Lanier.

In 1996, Chambers played in Israeli and won the Israeli League Championship. The Basketball Hall of Fame includes overseas accomplishments too, so Chambers certainly has a strong case.

3. Shawn Marion

Shawn Marion was one of the most prominent players during the 2000s decade. He was a member of the seven seconds or less Phoenix Suns and was one of the best defensive players in the NBA for a long time.

Throughout his career, he was selected to four All-Star teams, selected to two All-NBA teams and despite not making an All-Defensive team, he received a Defensive Player of the Year vote in six seasons. He had a seven-year stretch from 2000-01 to 2007-08 of averaging 19.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, two steals and 1.4 blocks per game.

In his prime, he received MVP votes and was an important piece for a championship-caliber team with the Suns. Later in his career, his defense was crucial for the Dallas Mavericks championship run in 2011. During that run, he was their third-leading scorer.

Marion has done a lot in his career that is Hall-of-Fame worthy. He had a great prime, a good end to his career, and many different accomplishments. He also has more total points than Hall-of-Famers Jack Sikma and Earl Monroe, whose accolades are strikingly like Marion's.

2. Shawn Kemp

During the 1990s, Shawn Kemp was one of the biggest names and was notorious for his extreme athleticism. He was part of a dynamic duo for the Seattle SuperSonics with Hall-of-Famer Gary Payton as his running mate.

Throughout his career, he was selected to six All-Star teams and three All-NBA teams. From the 1992-93 season to the 1998-99 season, he averaged 18.7 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.5 blocks on 51 percent shooting.

Kemp was one of the best two-way players in the league and was a big reason why the SuperSonics were title contenders for a half-decade. During that stretch, he was either their first or second-leading scorer.

Kemp's Hall-of-Fame case is a little Shakey because his prime was cut short and his career ended more quickly than other players of that era. After that final prime season, he lasted four more years, averaging double figures just once and was out of the league by age 33.

Kemp played in the 1996 NBA Finals against the Chicago Bulls and was their best player. If they had won the championship, he'd already be in the Hall-of-Fame but even without a ring, he could be in.

1. Amar'e Stoudemire

The first overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft is by far the best player to not be in the Hall of Fame and 100 percent should be. Over the course of Amar'e Stoudemire's NBA career, he won the 2003 Rookie of the Year, had six All-Star appearances and five All-NBA selections. Four of those selections he made the All-NBA Second Team and one time he made the All-NBA First Team.

He had a seven-year stretch from the 2004-05 season to the 2010-11 season where he averaged 23.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.5 blocks on 55 percent shooting. Most of this happened as the number one scoring option for the seven seconds or less Phoenix Suns. He helped lead them to multiple deep playoff runs.

Unfortunately for Stoudemire, the latter half of his career was plagued by injuries. If he played a full and healthy NBA career, he'd be in the Hall of Fame. The good thing about the Basketball Hall of Fame, overseas accomplishments count too.

For Team USA, he was a part of the bronze medal team in 2004 and won a gold medal in the FIBA Americas Championship in 2007. Then Stoudemire played a few years in Israeli: he won two Israeli Basketball Premier League championships, was the finals MVP in 2020, was selected to the All-Euro Cup second team in 2017, an Israeli Cup in 2019, and two Premier League All-Star selections.

If you combine his NBA accomplishments with his overseas accomplishments, he should be in the Hall of Fame, period.