Utah Jazz’s John Stockton, right, walks off the court with teammate Karl Malone, center, and coach Jerry Sloan after beating the Houston Rockets 103-100 in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals Thursday, May 29, 1997, in Houston. Stockton hit a 3-point shot at the buzzer to win the game and advance his team to the NBA Finals to meet the Chicago Bulls.
Utah Jazz’s John Stockton, right, walks off the court with teammate Karl Malone, center, and coach Jerry Sloan after beating the Houston Rockets 103-100 in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals Thursday, May 29, 1997, in Houston. Stockton hit a 3-point shot at the buzzer to win the game and advance his team to the NBA Finals to meet the Chicago Bulls. | PAT SULLIVAN, Associated Press

By Ryan McDonald

Among the individual honors those involved in professional basketball can receive, being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame certainly the ultimate recognition.

While the Utah Jazz have retired 10 numbers in honor of players, coaches or executives, just five of those people are inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Here’s the list, in alphabetical order:

Adrian Dantley

In addition to being first on this list, Dantley was also the first player who spent a significant amount of his career with the Utah Jazz to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, getting the honor in 2008.

Dantley entered the NBA in 1976 but was traded by the Los Angeles Lakers to the Jazz in 1979, just as the team was moving from New Orleans to Utah.

Dantley was with the Jazz until 1986, and in that time, he led the NBA in scoring twice, was named an All-NBA player twice and was named an All-Star six times.

Karl Malone

One of the Jazz’s franchise pillars alongside John Stockton for nearly 20 years, Malone was inducted into the Hall in 2010 after a career that saw him become the NBA’s second-leading scorer of all-time until LeBron James recently passed him.

In addition, Malone was named NBA MVP in 1997 and 1999 and was named an All-Star 14 times.

Pete Maravich

Although Maravich played less than a season with the Utah Jazz after the franchise moved from New Orleans, he was tremendous in New Orleans from 1974-1979 after getting traded there by the Atlanta Hawks (the Hawks drafted him in 1970).

During his time with the Jazz, Maravich was named an All-Star three times, an All-NBA player three times and led the league in scoring once.

In all for his career, Maravich was a five-time All-Star and a four-time All-NBA player.

While Maravich’s pro career was worthy of the Hall, his achievements in college were also historic. He is the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer, although the record he has held since 1970 could get broken in 2023 by Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis.

Additionally, Maravich was named national player of the year twice.

He was inducted into the Hall in 1987.

Jerry Sloan

Sloan had a very good playing career from 1965-1976, as he was named an All-Star twice with the Chicago Bulls, but he was inducted into the Hall in 2009 because of his success as a coach.

Truth be told, his first three seasons as a head coach, with the Bulls from 1979-1982, weren’t very good, as he went just 94-121.

He was an assistant with the Jazz from 1985-1988 and then became head coach in December of 1988 when Frank Layden stepped aside to be team president.

Sloan was tremendous from that point, as he had just one losing season the rest of his career and guided the Jazz to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998.

John Stockton

Inducted into the Hall alongside Sloan in 2009 (players are not eligible until five years after retirement), Stockton is the NBA’s all-time leader in both assists and steals. Additionally, he was named an All-Star 10 times.

While those five individuals are well-known for their careers with the Jazz, there are some others in the Hall who have a notable connection to the franchise or the state of Utah.

  • Gail Goodrich: Inducted in 1996, Goodrich had three nondescript seasons with the New Orleans Jazz from 1976-1979 but was excellent before that, being named an All-Star five times. His legacy with the Jazz is that, because of league rules at the time, the Jazz sent the Los Angeles Lakers a 1979 first-round pick when he signed with the Jazz in 1976. That pick became legend Magic Johnson.
  • Lusia Harris-Stewart: Inducted in 1992, Harris-Stewart became the first woman to be drafted by an NBA team when she was taken by the New Orleans Jazz in 1977 with the 137th overall pick (seventh round), although she never joined the team.
  • Moses Malone: Inducted in 2001, Malone made history by becoming the first player to go directly from high school to the pros after the Utah Stars took him in the third round of the 1974 ABA draft. Malone played for the Stars until the team folded in 1975, and he had a great NBA career after that, becoming a 3-time league MVP.
  • Dominique Wilkins: Inducted in 2006, Wilkins was drafted third overall by the Jazz in 1982 but never played for the team after being traded to the Atlanta Hawks, both because he did not want to play in Utah and the Jazz were in financial trouble and got money as part of the trade.