Carmelo Anthony’s basketball story started on playgrounds in Brooklyn and Baltimore, the place he discovered grit lengthy earlier than fame. On Saturday night time, his journey culminated in Springfield, Massachusetts, with an emotional induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Corridor of Fame.
Anthony entered to chants of “Melo! Melo!” and stood earlier than a crowd that included household, mates, and basketball royalty. By way of tears, he paused earlier than talking.
“Pardon my language, however rattling,” Anthony stated. “Tonight I simply don’t step into the Corridor of Fame, I carry the echoes of each voice that ever informed me I couldn’t. … I needed to construct a brand new highway. I needed to write a brand new ending.”
How Carmelo Anthony Made His Influence
Although Anthony by no means gained an NBA championship, he leaves the sport as one in every of its purest scorers and most embellished figures. Throughout 19 seasons with Denver, New York, Oklahoma Metropolis, Houston, Portland and the Los Angeles Lakers, he scored 28,289 factors, good for tenth on the NBA’s all-time record. He was a 10-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA choice, and a part of the NBA’s seventy fifth Anniversary Crew.
“I by no means received an NBA ring,” Anthony stated. “However I do know what I gave to the sport.”
Anthony’s résumé stretches past the NBA. As a freshman, he carried Syracuse to the 2003 NCAA championship, incomes Last 4 Most Excellent Participant honors. With Crew USA, he grew to become this system’s all-time chief in Olympic factors, rebounds and video games performed, profitable three gold medals.
His NBA profession was marked by each consistency and signature moments: seven straight playoff journeys with Denver, a 62-point sport at Madison Sq. Backyard that is still the Knicks’ single-game scoring document, and a scoring title in 2013.
6 years in the past in the present day, CARMELO ANTHONY scored a Knicks franchise-high at MSG 🔥
62 PTS23-35 FG6-11 3PT10-10 FT13 REB0 AST0 TO
“Solely a small group of folks that is aware of what that zone appears like and tonight I used to be one in every of them.” pic.twitter.com/nmpEHM42Pd
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) January 24, 2020
A Private Legacy
Anthony’s speech was as a lot about individuals and locations because it was about basketball. He devoted the dignity to his late father, to his sister Michelle, and to his mom, Mary, whom he referred to as “my hero.” He additionally emphasised his Puerto Rican heritage.
“To Puerto Rico … this Corridor of Fame second belongs to the island. It belongs to us,” Anthony stated.
He paid tribute to Syracuse for giving him his first likelihood, to Denver for trusting him as a youngster, and to New York for shaping his identification as a star within the sport’s largest market.
“I’ll have performed across the league, however my soul will at all times echo thirty third and Seventh,” Anthony stated. “As soon as a Knick, at all times a Knick.”
Kiyan Anthony presents his father, Carmelo, his Corridor of Fame jacket 🍊 pic.twitter.com/KeOPhf8PDS
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) September 6, 2025
Extra Than Championships
Anthony acknowledged the criticisms that adopted him all through his profession — questions of loyalty, the absence of a championship, and debates about his place in historical past. However he insisted that his legacy is outlined by resilience and inspiration.
“I’ve been cheered, criticized. They referred to as me a scorer who couldn’t win,” he stated. “However they didn’t know what it appears like to hold the load of entire cities, to lace up your sneakers whereas the world is dissecting your soul. … Legacy isn’t at all times made in championships. Typically it’s made in consistency and a refusal to give up.”
Anthony closed by addressing his youngsters and each younger participant watching: “They’ll say you’re dreaming too massive. I say dream louder. Statistics don’t measure coronary heart.”
With these phrases, Carmelo Anthony took his place amongst basketball’s immortals, his profession perpetually outlined not by what he lacked, however by what he gave.
