Carmelo Anthony: ‘I never got an NBA ring, but I know what I gave to game’

Carmelo Anthony officially took his place among basketball’s immortals Saturday night, inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to chants of “Melo! Melo!” from the crowd.

“Pardon my language, but damn,” Anthony said, fighting back tears. “Tonight I just don’t step into the Hall of Fame, I carry the echoes of every voice that ever told me I couldn’t. … I had to build a new road. I had to write a new ending.”

Anthony, one of the most prolific scorers of his generation, acknowledged the one box left unchecked on his résumé.

“I never got an NBA ring,” he said. “But I know what I gave to the game.”

The Brooklyn native and Syracuse legend joined Dwight Howard, Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles as part of a star-studded 2025 Hall of Fame class. Collectively, that group owns 11 NBA or WNBA titles, 15 Olympic gold medals, 37 All-NBA/All-WNBA selections and 45 All-Star appearances.

For Anthony, the moment was about more than numbers. It was about proving he belonged, from the playgrounds of Brooklyn and Baltimore to the biggest stage in basketball.

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