The basketball world knew he wouldn’t have to wait long, but now Carmelo Anthony knows he is a member of the Class of 2025.
The 10-time NBA All-Star has been notified he’s been elected into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Anthony, a six-time All-NBA selection and 2003 All-Rookie Team selection, gets into illustrious company after 19 NBA seasons in which he averaged 22.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game over 1,260 appearances (1,120 starts).
For the player who led Syracuse to a national championship as a freshman and later went on to be the face of the Knicks, the news will become official on Saturday when the announcement comes at the men’s Final Four in San Antonio.
🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾 CONGRATULATIONS MY BROTHER! PEACE GOD @carmeloanthony 🤝🏾🫡 https://t.co/s4i1zPjiKQ
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 2, 2025
Anthony’s quick ascension into one of the NBA’s deadliest scorers started in 2003 when the Denver Nuggets selected him third overall, behind future first ballot Hall of Famer LeBron James and Serbian center Darko Miličić. Anthony averaged 21.0 points and 6.1 rebounds on 42.6% shooting his rookie year, but finished second behind James for the Rookie of the Year award.
From there, Anthony’s scoring increased.
His highest points per game average came during the 2006-07 season with the Nuggets when he recorded 28.9 in 65 games with a Denver team that lost, 4-1, to the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs in a Western Conference First Round series.
The soon-to-be first-ballot Hall of Famer eventually spent seven seasons in Denver before a 2011 blockbuster three-team trade to New York made him the face of the franchise. Anthony was selected to the All-Star team in all seven seasons he spent in New York (2010-17). He won the NBA scoring title in 2013 after recording 28.7 points per game. Anthony also finished third for MVP that season, behind winner James and Kevin Durant.
In his seven seasons with the Knicks, Anthony averaged 24.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists. He never managed to carry the Knicks past the second round of the playoffs. He reached the Western Conference Finals as a member of the Nuggets once, but his team fell in six games to Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers in 2009.
Anthony spent parts of his final five NBA seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers.
The star simply known as “Melo” finished his career with 28,289 points, good for 10th on the NBA all-time scoring list.
He never won any MVP awards or captured an elusive NBA title, but finished his career as one of the most decorated Olympic basketball players of all-time. He won three consecutive gold medals during the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. He also took home the bronze medal in 2004.
Anthony officially announced his retirement in 2023.