After LeBron James Complains About the HOF, Sue Bird Has an Answer for the King

The recent Hall of Fame announcement is getting a rather speculative response from 4x NBA Champion LeBron James, who is presently in the 21st NBA season of his career. It intrigued many including Sue Bird who is in her 2nd year of retirement. The WNBA legend chose to address the Chosen One‘s curious query in a detailed manner.

King James lately wondered why the active NBA players must retire before entering the Hall of Fame. This is where Bird came up with her flying answer.

Sue Bird addresses the King

In her recent Instagram stories, Sue Bird seemed to be putting out some fire. She shared LeBron James’ post where he questioned the process of HOF for the players which states, “Why do players have to be retired before going into the HOF?? Coaches get in while still coaching rightfully so. Wondering what’s the difference though.”

Sue answers this question in her story saying, “I asked this same question once…And the answer was: ‘Because coaches coach longer than players play. Some into their 70’s AND THEY COULD DIE.”

Evidently, LeBron made this statement after the announcement that the 2008 Redeem Team has been nominated for the Hall of Fame Class of 2024. Also, the team claimed the gold medal in the 2008 Olympic Games. Interestingly, out of the Redeem Team roster, LeBron James is the only player who is still playing in the NBA while the others have retired. In addition, the legendary Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash in January 2020.

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But how does the process work exactly?

The Hall of Fame nomination process

Currently, according to the BHOF nomination process, the main difference lies here as for the coaches, they must be fully retired for four full seasons or must have coached as a full-time assistant or head coach on the high school, college, or professional level for a minimum of 25 years, to be eligible for the Hall of Fame. After that, in their 26th year of coaching or 6th year in retirement, coaches are taken into consideration for the Hall of Fame.

As for the players, especially those who are still playing, they must be retired for four full seasons before becoming eligible for an enshrinement. Moreover, after those four seasons, players can be considered for induction into the Hall of Fame in their fifth year of retirement.

Now, if we look at King James, he is only four seasons away from completing 25 NBA seasons, which is a milestone of its own. Moreover, there are many possibilities for him to be inducted into the HOF, however, whenever he decides to retire he will surely be in his first year of consideration.

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Meanwhile, Sue Bird’s induction into the Hall of Fame will be much sooner than James’ as she will meet the eligibility criteria in 2027. Moreover, her stellar career achievements make her an obvious candidate to receive this honor of a lifetime.