SAN ANTONIO — Carmelo Anthony sat on the dais inside the news conference room at the Alamodome with a smile splashed across his face.
A few hours earlier, his inclusion into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame had been announced.
He was still floating.
“This is it,” the prolific scoring forward said. “This is it. It don’t get no better than this. It don’t get greater than this. All of those things, those accomplishments that you have mentioned, this just puts a cap on that and it makes it all worth the while.”
The college basketball national champion, 10-time NBA All-Star and three-time Olympic gold medalist was joined in the 2025 class by Dwight Howard, WNBA legends Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles, Chicago Bulls coach and two-time college basketball champion Billy Donovan, Miami Heat owner Micky Arison and NBA referee Danny Crawford.
Howard and Anthony were actually inducted twice, as members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team, also known as the “Redeem Team.”
Carmelo Anthony speaks with media after the 2025 Basketball Hall of Fame announcement. Getty Images
That group won gold at the Beijing Games after recent disappointments in previous international competition.
Enshrinement weekend begins Sept. 5 at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., and the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.
Anthony, 40, got the call during the week. When he saw the number was coming from Springfield, the former Knicks star knew what that meant. Days later, it was still sinking in.
“I’m satisfied. It was worth it. I’m here,” Anthony said. “Again, it just comes back to being satisfied. When you are an athlete and you’re playing, you’re competing, your coaches tell you, never be satisfied. So you have that mentality until you can sit back and take yourself out of that situation in that moment and realize, ‘I’m good on basketball.’ I’m satisfied.
Carmelo Anthony reacts after hitting a 3-pointer for the Knicks in 2016. AP
“This is the gate, these are the doors. And it’s nothing that anyone can take away from me now.”
It was fitting that the announcement came at the Final Four, the first really big moment of his career. Twenty-two years ago, Anthony led Syracuse to a national championship as a freshman.
He was then selected third overall in the NBA draft by the Nuggets.
Across 19 years in the NBA, he reached 10 All-Star games, received six All-NBA honors and a spot on the NBA 75th Anniversary team.
He also led the league in scoring in 2012-13.
Anthony never advanced past the conference finals in the NBA, but he did win three Olympic gold medals.
Carmelo Anthony won a national championship with Syracuse. Sports Illustrated via Getty Ima
Perhaps his greatest team achievement was that 2003 run with Syracuse to a national championship.
The Orange were a No. 3 seed, not some powerhouse that was favored to reach the Final Four. Anthony carried Syracuse to its first and only crown.
“Coming to New Orleans in 2003 was a very special moment,” he recalled. “And knowing the game of basketball, and being a student of the game, I also knew that Coach [Jim] Boeheim lost in that same arena to Indiana years, years ago to Keith Smart in that same corner, same shot. So that play kept playing alongside in my brain.”
Syracuse won the game and Anthony was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
Over two decades later, Anthony was back on the biggest stage of college basketball.
It was another “One Shining Moment” for him.
“I keep trying to come up with things to say for these moments and there’s nothing that I can say that’s actually going to express the way that I feel or the way that I’m just trying to take this moment in,” Anthony said. “It’s a lot to put into perspective. You get the call about coming to be entered into the Hall of Fame for what you’ve done for your career and as an individual and what you’ve brought to this game of basketball.”
