Tina Thompson gets her rightful spot in Hall of Fame
March 31, 2018
Tina Thompson, left, joins Sheryl Swoopes and Cynthia in the Hall of Fame.
Another one of the greatest basketball players to come through Houston is headed into the Naismith Hall of Fame.
Houston Comets great Tina Thompson is part of the 2018 class, which will be inducted in September.
Thompson, now an assistant coach at the University of Texas, has a long list of accolades and is extremely deserving of the honor.
Just over 21 years ago, Thompson took a chance on a budding new league - the WNBA. It was a professional basketball league for women backed by the NBA.
She was a senior at Southern California, a star basketball basketball player contemplating her next move.
Law school was the plan when she was approached about the possibility of playing the WNBA.
There wasn't much money in it. It was new. It was small. A league full of women playing basketball? Would that ever work?
Thompson decided to give it a shot.
In April 1997, she was the No. 1 overall pick in the league's first draft.
She'd be headed to Houston to play for the Comets where she would join Sheryl Swoopes and Cynthia Cooper, who were allocated to Houston in January.
The rest, as they say, is history.
The three went on to create a dynasty in the WNBA -- winning the first four championships. Cooper was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010 and Swoopes in 2016.
While they all have had other career stops, their time in Houston, creating some of the city's greatest basketball moments and memories stand out.
It's only right that all three be in the Hall of Fame together.
Sadly, there are very few remnants of the team they made history with.
The Comets disbanded in 2008.
It was a sad time for the city and for women's basketball.
The team didn't have a big farewell. The Comets played their final game at Texas State University in San Marcos because Hurricane Ike was barreling toward Houston.
Six weeks prior to that final game, the team was put up for sale by local businessman Hilton Koch and its operations were taken over the league. The assumption by everyone involved was that the WNBA would keep the team going until a buyer could be found. No one thought that three months later, the Houston Comets would fold.
Now, the memories -- and a few banners that hang in the Toyota Center -- are all that is left from the Comets.
Having three of the team's greatest, the three who made the Comets what they were -- arguably the best professional women's team ever -- helps.
The women deserve the recognition. So does Houston, which hosted the successful franchise, which planted the seed and built a blueprint for other teams to follow.
"It's a great city for basketball," John Lucas said when Swoopes was named to the Hall of Fame in 2016. Lucas, who has trained several local players and is now an assistant with the Rockets, said the Comets deserve recognition for building up women's basketball in Houston.
"The Comets left a void for the young women in this city. They don't have that hometown team to root for anymore. It's always great to remember all the things they did for this city."
Thompson didn't always get the same notoriety her teammates Swoopes and Cooper did. Swoopes was often called the Michael Jordan of women's basketball. She was considered the greatest in the game for years.
And Cooper was right there with her.
Before playing alongside those two stars, Thompson played with legend Lisa Leslie at USC.
But to overlook Thompson is foolish. She spent 17 total years in the league - 12 in Houston.
When she finished her career with the Seattle Storm in 2013, she was the WNBA's all-time leading scorer with 7,488 points. Diana Taurasi surpassed that mark last year.
In her career, she averaged 15.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.
In addition to winning four WNBA championships, Thompson won Olympic gold medals with the United States in 2004 and 2008.
Thompson is an obvious choice and should continued to be honored and celebrated for what she brought to the game, what she brought to Houston and what she brought to young women everywhere who dreamed of playing professional basketball.
Jenny Dial Creech
Sports Columnist