For the first time in history, an Australian women’s basketball player will receive an induction into the FIBA Hall of Fame.
That honor will go to Michele Timms, formerly a member of the Phoenix Mercury and now currently part of the coaching staff for the Chinese women’s national team.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Timms told a French media outlet that she originally thought when she received a phone call to confirm her nomination that she thought it was merely a dream.
Timms had to wake up the next morning to indeed confirm that it was no figment of her imagination and that she was receiving international basketball’s highest honor.
Timms played for the Mercury in her WNBA career, including in 1998 when Phoenix barely lost to the Houston Comets for the WNBA championship that season. In 2002, the Mercury retired her number 7 jersey. It was only the second time in history that a number in the WNBA was retired.
At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, she played a major role in winning Australia its first medal—a bronze. In 2000 in that year’s Olympics in her home country of Australia, the Opals claimed silver.
By: Akiem Bailum (@AkiemBailum on Twitter, Instagram)
