Making the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame after retiring is the highest honor a basketball player can get, which symbolizes how successful their individual career was. In the prime of the offseason, NBA fans on various social media platforms are indulging in deep discussions about the past and keen debates on the future.
One such evergreen debate is analyzing whether a player deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. According to Basketball Reference’s Hall of Fame probabilities, Kyle Lowry (85.7%) has a higher chance of being inducted than Klay Thompson (73%).
A social media post illustrated this into a post and left the room open for debate. Upon seeing this post, Warriors insider Brett Siegel chose to jump to Klay Thompson’s defense and made a bold claim about his future.
“Klay Thompson is 100% no doubt getting in the HOF.”
Klay Thompson is 100% no doubt getting in the HOF. https://t.co/WNAYGXPXok
— Brett Siegel (@BrettSiegelNBA) August 17, 2025
Klay Thompson has four NBA championships, five NBA All-Star selections, and three selections in team honors given at the end of the season (twice in All-NBA third team, once All-Defensive second team). He was an elite three-and-D guard in his prime, but was never the best player on the Warriors.
Moreover, he was widely recognized as the second-best shooter in the league in his prime behind Stephen Curry, shattering multiple shooting records, as well as clinching the three-point scoring competition during the All-Star weekend.
Meanwhile, Kyle Lowry has only one NBA championship, but six All-Star selections and just one selection in team honors (All-NBA Third Team in 2016). Yet, he has a higher chance of being inducted into the Hall of Fame than Klay Thompson.
In their only clash in the NBA Finals (in 2019), Lowry came out on top over Klay Thompson, who eventually fell to injury, as the Raptors won their first-ever NBA championship after defeating the Warriors.
One thing that stands out in Kyle Lowry’s favor here is that Lowry is widely considered the greatest Raptors player of all time. While Chris Bosh may have given a significant portion of his career to the Raptors, he never won a championship with them.
Meanwhile, Kawhi Leonard only stayed for the championship season and immediately left the Raptors. Therefore, Lowry is the only one who has a championship with the Raptors and has devoted a long enough time to them as their leader to be considered a standout on that list.
However, championships are not the only metric to ensure Hall of Fame status. Robert Horry has seven NBA championships, and yet he has not been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. Therefore, Thompson’s championships don’t guarantee his status in the Hall of Fame either.
In my opinion, both these players will eventually be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but it’s more of a question of who gets inducted first, and in my opinion, it will be Lowry since he is older and closer to retirement than Thompson. Let us know what you think about this debate in the comments section.
