Jason Kidd, Steve Nash and Ray Allen headline the finalists for the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Kidd and Nash are expected to be voted into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. Kidd ranks second in NBA history with 12,091 assists, and Nash is third with 10,335 assists. Nash also won back-to-back MVPs.

Grant Hill, Maurice Cheeks and Chris Webber are also finalists.

Charles "Lefty" Driesell, Rudy Tomjanovich and Baylor's Kim Mulkey made the final ballot as coaches. Katie Smith, Tina Thompson and longtime NBA official Hugh Evans are also finalists.

The 2018 NBA Awards will take place in Santa Monica this June.

Last year's awards were held in New York City and was the inaugural edition. The NBA had historically announced their regular season awards throughout the playoffs.

The ceremony will feature current and former NBA players, coaches, musical performances and celebrity presenters. 

Joel Embiid and James Harden have been named the NBA's Players of the Week.

Embiid led the 76ers to a 3-0 week with wins over Washington, New Orleans and the L.A. Clippers, all teams over .500. He posted averages of 26.7 points, 15.0 rebounds, 2.3 blocks in 30.1 minutes per game while shooting .484 from the field. 

Harden averaged 33.0 points, 6.8 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.25 steals while also hitting 18 3-pointers on 39.1% shooting last week while the Rockets went 4-0.

Andre Drummond and James Harden have been named the NBA's Players of the Week.

Drummond led the Pistons to a 3-0 record by averaging 19.3 points (64% FG), 19.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 3.3 steals and 2.7 blocks in 34.0 minutes per game. He recorded three double-doubles, including two 20-point/20-rebound games and shot better than 70% from the field in two-of-three games.  Drummond recorded 23 points, 20 rebounds, four steals and four blocks vs. Miami (2/3) to become the first player since Hakeem Olajuwon (12/22/89) to post such numbers in a game.

Harden averaged 34.7 points, 10.3 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game last week.

The Toronto Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan and the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry today were named the Kia NBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month, respectively, for games played in January.

DeRozan ranked second in the Eastern Conference in scoring (25.3 ppg) and added 5.9 assists as the Raptors went 10-5 in January to pull within a game and a half of the East-leading Boston Celtics.  The 6-7 guard scored at least 30 points in four of 15 games, highlighted by a franchise-record 52 points in a 131-127 overtime victory against the Milwaukee Bucks on Jan. 1.  DeRozan recorded at least eight assists four times and posted the highest assist average for any month of his nine-year career.

The Warriors were 10-2 with Curry in the lineup in January, with six of those wins coming on the road.  (Golden State went 11-3 overall.)  The 6-3 guard led the NBA in scoring (29.5 ppg) and added 6.7 assists and 5.1 rebounds while shooting 51.4 percent from the field and 46.3 percent from three-point range.  Curry scored at least 30 points on six occasions, including a season-high 49 points in a 109-105 win over the Celtics on Jan. 27.  He connected on an NBA-high 62 three-pointers for the month, including eight threes as part of a 45-point effort in a 121-105 victory against the LA Clippers on Jan. 6.

The Philadelphia 76ers’ Ben Simmons and the Utah Jazz’s Donovan Mitchell today were named the Kia NBA Eastern and Western Conference Rookies of the Month, respectively, for games played in January.

Simmons tied for the lead among Eastern Conference rookies in scoring (17.1 ppg) and led all first-year NBA players in assists (6.7 apg) in January. He also paced East rookies in steals (1.42 spg), ranked second among all rookies in field goal percentage (59.7) and added 5.3 rebounds. The 6-10 guard/forward helped the 76ers post a 7-5 record, including two wins over the San Antonio Spurs and one each against the Boston Celtics and the Toronto Raptors. On Jan. 24, Simmons reached a triple-double early in the third quarter and finished with 19 points, 17 rebounds and 14 assists in a 115-101 home win over the Chicago Bulls.

Mitchell won the Kia NBA Western Conference Rookie of the Month award for the second month in a row. In January, he led all rookies in scoring (22.2 ppg) and steals (1.54 spg) to go with 3.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists. The 6-3 guard scored 20 points or more in eight of 13 games, including two games with at least 30 points. In his final two games of January, Mitchell scored 26 points in a 97-93 victory at the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 26, followed by 20 points, four assists and four steals in a 129-99 home win over the Golden State Warriors. Those two victories gave Utah a 6-7 record for the month.