When Mel Daniels is inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, he will be joined by a few familiar faces.
Daniels, a two-time ABA Most Valuable Player and three-time ABA champion, will not only be one of two Indiana Pacers greats to head into the hall, but will also join a fellow Detroit Pershing High School alum in the class of 2012. Reggie Miller, who played 18 seasons with the Pacers, and Ralph Sampson, who went on to have an all-American tenure at Virginia and a successful career with the Houston Rockets, will be immortalized alongside the baby-faced Daniels.
A 6-foot-9, 220-pound center, Daniels averaged 18.4 points and 14.9 rebounds over his eight-year ABA career. He participated in seven ABA All-Star games and was named ABA Rookie of the Year in 1967-68, winning the league MVP award the following season. In 1970, Daniels led the Pacers to the first of three ABA titles before adding another league MVP plus an All-Star MVP trophy to his mantel in 1971.
Check out highlights from Daniels' career in the video below.
