Australian basketball legend Michele Timms will add another accolade to her glittering CV this week.
The point guard, who was the first Australian to play professionally overseas and enjoyed success in the US, on home soil and the international stage, will be among 13 inductees honoured in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Class of 2024.
The inductees were unveiled in April with a ceremony to be held in the US this weekend.
Timms will be third Australian to be honoured with a place in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame alongside Lindsay Gaze (coach) and Lauren Jackson (player).
A Bulleen junior who followed the traditional AIS pathway, Timms went on to play 285 games in the WNBL and was a key member of the Nunawading Spectres’ juggernaut winning championships in 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989. She would go on to play in Perth’s sole title in 1992.
When she joined German outfit Lotus Muchen in 1989, Timms, as the first Australian basketballer male or female to play professionally abroad, would blaze a trail for Aussies who would follow in her footsteps for decades to come.
One of the marquee players in the inaugural WNBA season in 1997, Timms established herself as a star for the Phoenix Mercury over five seasons and quickly became an icon of the game with fans replicating her trademark bleach-blonde hair style.
She played in the league’s very first All-Star game in 1999.
Her influence was so profound at Phoenix that the Mercury retired her famous No.7 jersey in 2002.
A tough competitor and big-time performer, Timms was most at home wearing her beloved green and gold of the Opals, representing her country for 14 years.
Across 264 games, she competed in three Olympics (1988, 1996, 2000), was part of the historic Opals team which claimed Australian basketball’s first Olympic medal in Atlanta then captained her country to a silver medal on home soil in Sydney, 2000.
She also competed at four World Cups (1986, 1990, 1994, 1998) winning a bronze medal at her final World Cup appearance in Germany.
Timms is a legend of the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame (2006) and also a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame (2016) and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (2008).
