Carmelo Anthony humbled by Naismith Hall of Fame nod

SAN ANTONIO – As is often the case when all-time greats join their sports’ immortals, Carmelo Anthony was asked to reflect on his career Saturday afternoon after he was named to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025. 

Twenty-two years after he led Syracuse to the 2003 NCAA national title as a freshman, Anthony was even asked to draw comparisons to Duke freshman sensation Cooper Flagg. 

In many ways the 2003 Final Four in New Orleans was Anthony’s introduction to American sports fans. So it was quite fitting that he was back at the Final Four on Saturday at the Alamodone to be introduced as a member of Naismith Hall of Fame’s newest class. 

“This is it,” he said. “It don’t get no better than this.”

Deep Hall class

Anthony is joined in the Class of 2025 by the 2008 USA Basketball Men’s Olympic Team, which he was on, referee Danny Crawford, coach Billy Donovan and Dwight Howard. Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles and Maya Moore were elected by the Hall’s women’s committee.

Miami Heat managing general partner Mike Arison was chosen by the contributor’s committee.

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Anthony accomplished almost everything you can in basketball short of an NBA title. The 2003 Final Four Most Outstanding Player followed his 2003 national championship with a stellar 20-year career in the NBA. 

Anthony was a 10-time NBA All-Star, a scoring champion and a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team. He scored 28,289 points and grabbed 7,808 rebounds in the NBA. Anthony also won three Olympic gold medals and a bronze for Team USA. 

Now at 40 years old Anthony is set to join the immortals in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

‘Greatest accomplishment’

“All of those things, those accomplishments … mentioned, this puts a cap on that. It makes it all worth the while,” Anthony said. “Again, I keep going back to the journey. You’ll hear me talk about the journey. It’s a journey when you’re doing this for two decades.

“So you have to take the good, the bad and the ugly with that. If you go through that process with the good, the bad and the ugly and you come out on the other side of it, and this is the blessing that I get for going through that, this is the greatest accomplishment that I’ll ever accomplish.”

Carmelo Anthony is honored to be elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025.
Congrats, @carmeloanthony ! #LatinoExcellence 🇵🇷🇺🇸 #Basketball #HallofFame pic.twitter.com/eAJ0UpIBNF

— Our Esquina (@OurEsquina) April 5, 2025

Anthony, whose late father had Puerto Rican roots, vows to celebrate the honor eventually in Puerto Rico.

“The Spanish-speaking fans that’s out there, we love them,” says Carmelo Anthony, whose late father had Puerto Rican roots. “We bringing it back. We’re coming back to Puerto Rico. We’re celebrating with all our Spanish-speaking fans and all of our Latinos and Latinas.”