Not a shock: Detroit’s Swin Cash makes Basketball Hall of Fame

For the second year in a row, a former Detroit professional basketball player who helped lead the team to a championship, this time Swin Cash, is making the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

 Cash, who helped the Detroit Shock, the sister team to the Pistons, win the WNBA championship in 2003 and 2006, has been named to be a member of the Class of 2022.

Last year, Ben Wallace, a key member of the Pistons’ 2004 NBA championship team, was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Also making it were: two-time NBA All-Star Manu Ginobili, five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway, two-time NCAA National Coach of the Year Bob Huggins, the NBA’s sixth-winningest coach of all-time George Karl and longtime NBA referee Hugh Evans.

Besides Cash, on the women’s side, the Hall of Fame will be welcoming five-time WNBA All-Star, Lindsay Whalen and NCAA national champion and WNBA Coach of the Year Marianne Stanley.

Committees focused on preserving all areas from the game also selected five directly elected enshrines. They include Lou Hudson from the Veterans Committee, Larry Costello and Del Harris from the Contributor Committee, Theresa Shank-Grentz from the Women’s Veterans Committee and Radivoj Korac from the International Committee.

Cash and the rest of the class will be inducted on September 10 in Springfield, Massachusetts, site of the Hall of Fame.

To be elected, Women’s Committee finalists must receive 18 of 24 votes from the Honors Committee for election into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Cash, a 6-foot-1 forward, was the second overall pick in the 2002 WNBA draft by Detroit. In six seasons, Cash averaged 12.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists. The Shock won two WNBA titles and made the finals once in her time there. She went on to win another WNBA title with the Seattle Storm in 2010.

While a member of the Shock, Cash was part of the 2004 USA Olympic team that won the gold medal.

Cash is currently the vice president of operations for the New Orleans Pelicans.

Cash’s selection will be another chance to celebrate Detroit basketball, and it shows what a truly special time the 2000s were for pro basketball in the area.