Report: Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame considering delayed induction ceremony

The 2020 Naismith Hall of Fame class may need to wait a little longer than usual to be inducted amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Hall of Fame CEO John Doleva told the Boston Globe that Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan and Tamika Catchings, who are among one of the most highly anticipated Hall of Fame classes, may not be inducted until Oct. 9-11 or the spring of 2021.

The current ceremony is set to take place from Aug. 28-30, and Doleva said a final decision will be made later this week on whether or not to push back the date. One change has already been made, though. Instead of holding the induction at Symphony Hall in Boston, it'll now take place at the much larger MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass., in order to follow social distancing guidelines.

While the ceremony may be pushed back until 2021, Doleva noted that the 2020 and 2021 classes will receive their own ceremonies and will not be combined.

Emotions already are running high with this year's class after the death of Bryant in January, so a delay to the ceremony would be that much more unfortunate. Hall of Fame ceremonies in the past have not allowed family members of posthumous inductees to speak live at the ceremony, but Bryant's widow, Vanessa, and other family members may speak on his behalf.

The 2020 induction ceremony will become one of the most powerful in induction history as the legacy of the Los Angeles Lakers star is cemented in Springfield.

There is a great possibility the ceremony is pushed back as Massachusetts is one of the most infected areas in the country, but hopefully things improve in the coming weeks so the inductees can get the ceremony they deserve.