Carmelo Anthony enters the Hall of Fame as a Knick — and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
A 10-time NBA All-Star, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and one of the most iconic scorers of his generation, Anthony headlined the 2025 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class alongside Dwight Howard and WNBA legends Sue Bird, Maya Moore, and Sylvia Fowles, as well as the entire 2008 USA Men’s National Team.
With Dwyane Wade and Allen Iverson at his side during his induction speech, Anthony delivered a heartfelt thank you tour before turning his focus to the city that defined his NBA legacy: New York.
“To the New York Knicks and the city of New York, the Mecca of basketball: You gave me more than a jersey. You gave me an identity from the lights of Madison Square Garden to the heartbeat of every borough. I felt that energy, I carried it, I became it,” Anthony said in his speech on Sunday. “And to the Knicks organization, thank you for believing in me, for trusting me to represent the city that never sleeps, that never folds, that never stops.
“I may have played around the league, but my soul will always echo 33rd and 7th. Once a Knick, always a Knick.”
The Knicks acquired Anthony in a blockbuster 2011 midseason trade with the Denver Nuggets, sending Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, and a first-round pick the other way. Over seven seasons in New York, Anthony averaged 24.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.2 assists, delivering a 54-win season and a second-round playoff appearance in 2013 — the franchise’s most successful run since the 1990s.
His time in New York ended in 2017, when the Phil Jackson-led regime traded him to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The move came in the middle of a seven-year playoff drought — but not the end of Anthony’s connection to the city or its fans.
During his speech, a visibly emotional Anthony reflected on what it meant to wear the Knicks jersey under the brightest lights in basketball.
“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,” he said. “You [New York] showed 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 boo, every moment, we felt it. I felt it.
“I’ve been cheered, criticized. They called me a scorer who couldn’t win. They said I was too loyal, then 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 is bigger than me. My why was every kid in the hood who ever thought greatness wasn’t for them. My why was my son, watching to see if his father would fold or fight.”
Anthony also paid tribute to Syracuse University, where he delivered a national championship in his lone college season before declaring for the 2003 NBA Draft.
“To Syracuse: one year, one championship, one spark that changed everything,” he said. “You gave me my first shot at belief on a national stage, and I gave you my whole heart.”
