NBA: The 6 basketball Hall of Famers to have never played in the league

Taking a closer look at the six players that are in the Basketball Hall of Fame, but never played in the NBA

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is the ultimate goal for any player who played in the NBA, and being inducted is probably the greatest honor that can be given to any player.

When asked, any NBA fan can probably ramble off a long list of players that have been inducted, including Bill Walton, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, and Tracy McGrady. However, there are currently six players in the Hall of Fame that almost no casual fan could name, and that’s because they never played a game in the league.

In order of induction, these players are Sergei Belov, Kresimir Cosic, Dino Meneghin, Drazen Dalipagic, Oscar Schmidt, and Nikos Galis, and today, we’re going to take a look at each of them.

Sergei Belov (inducted 1992)

Sergei Belov holds the distinction of being the first non-NBA player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Dubbed “The Jerry West of Russia”, Belov made the USSR Olympic Basketball team a force in the Summer Olympics from 1968-1980.

Throughout that time, the USSR received three bronze medals and they won the gold in 1972. Belov himself was a key player in the 1972 USSR Olympic team that halted the USA’s run of seven straight gold medals. In that year, he would average 14 points a game, including scoring 20 in the championship game against the US.

While those numbers don’t seem to jump off the page, it’s important to remember that in 1972 the only Olympic stats that were tracked were points and turnovers, so we don’t know how many assists, steals, or rebounds Belov added to those totals. Not to mention that our advanced stats (PER, Win Share, etc.) are practically useless with the records we currently have.

Belov also had a number of personal accolades to back up his 1992 induction. He is a 2 time Euroleague Champion, a two-time USSR Cup Champion, has won 2 Olympic gold medals, and is an 11 time USSR League Champion. In 1980 Olympics, the only year where his stats are even marginally complete, Belov averaged 21 points, two rebounds, three assists, and one steal per game, over just eight games.

Not much else is known about the 6-foot-2 Russian guard, except for that many in the international community still consider him to be the greatest international player of all time. Belov died at the age of 69, in 2013.