Knicks Legend Carmelo Anthony Makes Hall of Fame Speech

In his speech, Anthony thanks members of his family individually, as well as his hosts in Denver and New York. During his speech, Anthony was flanked by fellow new-century backcourt legends Allen Iverson and Dwyane Wade, who served as his presenters for his Springfield moment.

View Anthony's full speech below ...

Pardon my language, man, but damn, excuse me, pardon me, sorry.

Tonight, I don't just step into the Hall of Fame. I carry with me the echoes of every voice that ever told me I couldn't. I walk with the shadows of every alley, every cracked. court, every empty plate I stand for the dreamers, the doubted, the dismissed, for every soul still trapped in the places I broke free from, from Red Hook to Myrtle Avenue.

We didn't grow up with guarantees. We grew up with grit. We didn't have much, but we had dreams. And, if you were lucky, you had someone telling you not to give up on them. But more often, what we heard was 'that ain't for you.' Don't aim too high. Melo, stay in your lane. Well, I had to build a new road. I had to write a different ending.

When you grow up in the shadows, you have to get swallowed by them, or you learn how to shy away. To every kid watching, I want you to hear me loud: you are not your zip code, you are not your last name, you are not your setbacks. You are your vision. You are your work ethic. You are your will. You are the choir Westminster that says, I know there's more for me in this life. Hold on to that voice. It will be tested. The dogs is barking. Dogs is barking. The dogs is barking."

They would tell you it's foolish. They would laugh at your belief. But let me tell you: they laughed at me too.

To my father, here's where the tears come: Carmelo Iriarte, you left this world too soon, but you've never left me. Your name is my name. Your spirit walks with me in every step I take. You were a poet, an activist, a fighter. You told me without even knowing that words matter, that vision matters. Even in your absence, you gave me strength and the silence, you gave me purpose, Though I didn't get to grow with you, I grew because of you. You gave me the first example of what it means to carry fire and still speak with grace. Your blood runs in mine. Your dream lives through me. This Hall of Fame jacket that I receive, I'm not wearing it tonight, I wear it for the both of us.

To my sister, Michelle Anthony: you have been my protector, my voice of reason, my anchor in every storm . In this world, sometimes you just need one person to see you before anyone else does. You were that person. You believed in me when I didn't even know how to believe in myself. You loved me without conditions, and you held this family together with strength that no statsheet can measure. You are Hall of Fame in every sense of the word, sis. This honor is yours, too.

To Puerto Rico, my blood, my soul, my heart. I carry the flag in my heart. I carry the island in my veins. When I wore those colors on my chest, I wasn't just playing basketball. I was honoring the heritage. I was honoring my father. I was honoring every Puerto Rican who's ever had to fight twice as hard to get as far. Puerto Rico, you gave me fire, you gave me soul, you gave me home. We are proud. We are powerful. We are present. This Hall of Fame moment belongs to the island. It belongs to us.

To my brothers, Justin and Wilford, my real ones, who held me down, when the world turned its back. When the critics got loud, you got louder with your love. You reminded me who I was, with every text, every call, every laugh. We made it.

To every Father, and this is important, to every man listening: you are more than your mistakes. You are more than what this world has to reduce you to, being present, being real, being vulnerable. That's strength.

Raising children in this world is revolutionary. I didn't just want to be a basketball player. I wanted to be a model of redemption, of accountability, of love. My kids saved me. They gave me a reason to move past ego, past noise, past criticism. They reminded me that legacy isn't what you leave behind, it's what you lift up.

To every woman who's held us together: I owe everything to the strength of women, to the women who raised us, who loved us through our mistakes, who believed, who believed in us before the world saw our potential. I stand here because of you. To the single mothers pulling double shifts, to the grandmothers who stepped in when fathers couldn't, to the sisters who became second mothers: you are the real MVPs. You've held us up when the world tried to tear us down. You've spoken life into us when we were silent, and you've shown us what it means to fight with grace and lead with love.

To my mother, Mary Anthony: you taught me that love ... You taught me that love is action, that sacrifice is quiet, that faith is louder than fear. To every woman watching tonight, this moment is yours too. You are not behind us. You're not beside us. You're the reason we rise. You don't just shape homes. You shape legacies. My mother was the first one to show me what sacrifice looks like: no spotlight, no praise, just love in its purest form. You're the reason I'm standing here, mom. The sacrifices, the sacrifices you made, the tears you held back, the strength you showed, I felt it every time I laced up my sneakers. You all my hero, and now as a man, I see how powerful that was. That was Hall of Fame, worthy too.

I've been cheered, criticized. They called me a scorer who couldn't win. They said I was too loyal, and they said I wasn't loyal enough. But they didn't know what it feels like to carry the weight of whole cities, to lace up your sneakers while the world is dissecting your soul. They never saw the lonely nights, the aching knees, the silent battles. But I kept going. I kept shooting and I kept believing, not because I had all the answers, but because I had a why.

My why was bigger than me. My why was every kid in the hood who ever thought greatness wasn't for them. My why was my son, who would watch and would see if his father would fold or fight.

To my real ones, my real friends: Kenny, Munch, Draper, Bay, Tyler, you weren't just part of this journey. You were my foundation. When the cameras was off, when the critics was loud, when the weight was heavy, you was there. You reminded me who I was when the world tried to rewrite my story. You gave me laughter in the darkest seasons. You gave me silence when I needed peace. You gave me honesty, love, loyalty when the world gave me noise, this honor belongs to us, because without your presence, your truth, your belief, I don't get here. Y'all never chased the spotlight, but I need the world to know you were the light behind mine.

To Syracuse, one year, one championship, one spark that changed everything. You gave me my first shot at belief on a national stage, and I gave you my whole heart.

I know everybody's waiting on this next one, to the Denver Nuggets: in the city of Denver, you believed in me first. You gave me your keys as a 19-year-old kid. You let me grow, fall, fly, and become the man standing here today. Denver was where I learned the weight of the league, when I learned the value of sacrifice and the beauty of team. To every fan who filled the Pepsi Center, thank you to the Mile High City. You'll always be a part of my foundation.

To the New York Knicks, to the city of New York, the mecca of basketbal: you gave me more than a jersey. You gave me an identity. From the likes of Madison Square Garden to the heartbeat of every borough, I felt that energy. I carried it. I became it.

New York is not for the faint of heart. It's pressure, it's expectation, but it's also pride, power and poetry in motion. You show me what it means to carry a city on your back with grace, with grit and with love to the fans. Your passion never wavered, even when things got tough. Your fire lit up every corner of the garden, every chant, every roar, every boom, every moment, we felt it. I felt it.

And to the Knicks organization: thank you for believing in me, for trusting me to represent the city that never sleeps, that never falls, that never stops. I may have played around the league, but my soul will always echo on 33rd and Seventh. Once a Knick always a Knick.

To the game of basketball: you were my way out. But more than that, you were my way in. You let me tell my story without words. You let me cry through jumpers, shout through dunks, dream through wins. You gave a kid from the projects a passport to the world. You gave my pain purpose. You gave my past and future.

I never got an NBA ring, and some will always define me by that, but I know what I gave to this game, and I know what this game gave back. Legacy isn't always made in championships. Sometimes it's made in consistency, in a refusal to quit and showing up over and over again when no one's clapping.
I played the game with fire, with passion, with love, with joy, I gave it everything I had every single night.

To my children, Kiyan and Genesis: your father isn't perfect, but he is proof. Proof that struggle doesn't mean surrender, proof that the road can be rough and still lead to glory. So I say again to every child listening: they would tell you to be realistic. I say, be relentless. They would say you're dreaming too big. I say, Dream louder. They would try to label you, box you in, count you out. But remember, statistics don't measure heart, they don't account for fight. They don't see the storm that built you. You were made for more. You are more than possible. You are inevitable.

Tonight, I'll take my place in the Hall of Fame, but the real honor, the real honor, is knowing I never walked alone. You walk with me. My story is your story. So when they ask you, where did greatness come from? Tell them it starts in the dirt. It starts in the dark. It starts with a whisper that says, I will not be denied.

Thank you. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for walking with me. We in the Hall now, champ, and we just getting started. When in doubt, Stay Melo. Peace.