Does Nike's Phil Knight belong in the hoops Hall of Fame +Follow

It has been a very interesting day for Nike, to say the least.

On the same day when rioting has forced stores to cancel the release of the company's latest shoe, nike free 5.0 herren schwarz cofounder Phil Knight also has been elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Knight is one of five people whose direct election was announced at the NBA AllStar Weekend in Orlando, and he will go in as a selection from the Contributors Committee.

Nike shoes have adorned a lot of great players' feet, but does that really qualify Knight for the Hall of Fame?

Here are some other recent selections by the Contributors Committee: Harlem Globetrotters legend Meadowlark Lemon; Earl F. Lloyd, the first African American to play in the NBA; nike free run 3 herren, a driving force behind the USA Olympic team and the NBA's fourtime Executive of the Year; Hubie Brown, the longtime coach and noted TV analyst; Lakers owner Jerry Buss; Tom "Satch" Sanders, a member of eight Celtics championship teams and the creator of many player programs, and Dick Vitale, a man who truly needs no introduction.

So tell us: Does Knight, by virtue of putting sponsorship and ad dollars back into the sport that has helped make him a billionaire, deserve a spot alongside those others in the Hall?

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Reid Cherner has been with USA TODAY since 1982 and written Game On! since March 2008.

He has covered everything from high schools to horse racing to the college and the pros. The only thing he likes more than his own voice is the sound of readers telling him when he's right and wrong.

Michael Hiestand has covered sports media and marketing for USA TODAY, tackling the sports biz ranging from what's behind megaevents such as the Olympics and Super Bowl to the sometimeshidden numbers behind the sports world's bottom line.