Former Purdue men’s basketball coach Gene Keady wears a pin from his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, during the official release party for the Play Hard Lager, a collaboration between Sun King Brewery and Keady, at Harry’s Chocolate Shop in West Lafayette, Ind. Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

High-Flying NBA Great Opens Up About Being Left Out Of Hall Of Fame

Originally posted on Back in the Day NBA on SI
By Shandel Richardson | Last updated Jul 15, 2025 9:57 AM ET

Former NBA superstar Shawn Kemp was must-see television in the 1990s. His dunks were high-flying and acrobatic. At 6-foot-10, he could also shoot from the perimeter. And then there was his alley-oop connection with Seattle Supersonics teammate Gary Payton.

Despite all of this, only Payton is in the Hall of Fame. Kemp is still waiting on the call.

"I've always said that, those first eight or nine years that I had was pretty good, pretty solid," Kemp said on the All The Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. "I will tell you this, I'm a six-time All-Star. Those six games that I started, you know who I had to beat out. That's Charles (Barkley). That's Karl Malone. That's every year, so that's pretty consistent."

Kemp averaged 14.6 points and 8.4 rebounds in 14 seasons. He led the Sonics to the 1996 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls. Kemp's career took a bad turn when he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. From there, he battled weight and drug issues. He played for the Portland Trail Blazers and Orlando Magic before retiring in 2003.

"I will say this, me going through some problems and stuff that I went through in my career also hurts you in the end," Kemp said. "When you look at the good side of it and you compare the numbers, I'm right there with some of the best ones."

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This article first appeared on Back in the Day NBA on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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