The first thing you need to know about the NBA Hall of Fame is that there isn’t one. Nope. Doesn’t exist. So where are all these NBA players who are inducted into the hall of fame going? That would be the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, which honors any significant contributor to the sport of basketball, players and coaches, men and women, professional and amateur, U.S. and international.
So when we at Bzzwords University say, “the NBA Hall of Fame,” we are of course referring the NBA players that have been inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, or at least to a curated subset of that group.
Sports trivia competitions would go into great detail about things like stats and league records and who beat who in the finals in what year. However, that’s not the kind of sports question you’d be likely to encounter on a general knowledge trivia show such as Jeopardy or Master Minds or the Chase.
So for general knowledge trivia competition purposes, what do you need to know about NBA hall of fame players?
Know the twenty or so historically great NBA players and what teams they played for. Examples: Larry Bird played for the Boston Celtics his entire career, Tim Duncan for the San Antonio Spurs, Isiah Thomas for the Detroit Pistons. Shaquille O’Neal played for six different NBA teams.
Know who they played for in college, if they did. Examples: Charles Barkley played for Auburn, Magic Johnson for Michigan State, Shaquille O’Neal for LSU, Larry Bird for Indiana State. Kobe Bryant went to the NBA straight from high school.
Know their nicknames. Examples: Oscar Robertson was “the Big O.” Jerry West was “Mr. Clutch.” Julius Erving was “Dr. J.” Kobe Bryant gave himself the nickname, “Black Mamba.” I doubt Charles Barkley gave himself the nickname, “Round Mound of Rebound.”
Know the most unique facts and accomplishments of the players. Examples: Wilt Chamberlain is the only player to score more than a hundred points in one game. Dirk Nowitzki, from Germany, was the first European superstar in the NBA. The NBA logo is the silhouette of Jerry West.
The most important basketball fact of all time, the most important nugget of information in all of sports of all time from a trivia point of view, more important than all other facts combined, is that the NBA logo is the silhouette of Jerry West. If you can’t learn anything else, learn that.
What about LeBron James, you ask? What about Steph Curry? Don’t worry about them. They aren’t retired yet, so they aren’t in the hall of fame. Questions about current players aren’t as likely on the gold standard trivia shows mentioned above. Once you’ve gathered the low-hanging fruit of NBA hall of fame player facts, move on to the Byzantine Empire.
Learn everything on Bzzwords University Trivia Training.
