Carmelo Anthony has been elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on the first ballot, ESPN reported Wednesday.
An NCAA champion at Syracuse, a 10-time NBA All-Star with the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks, and a three-time Olympic gold medalist with Team USA, Anthony retired following the 2021-22 season.
Anthony was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by Denver, a couple of months after leading the Orange to the NCAA Tournament title as a freshman sensation.
He made four All-Star teams with the Nuggets before joining the Knicks in a blockbuster trade in February 2011.
Energized by a return to his hometown of New York City, Anthony earned six consecutive All-Star nods from 2011-12 through 2016-17. He won a scoring title with 28.7 points per game in 2012-13.
Anthony finished out his 19-year career with Oklahoma City (2017-18), Houston (2018-19), Portland (2019-21) and the Los Angeles Lakers (2021-22), retiring with averages of 22.5 points and 6.2 rebounds in 1,260 games (1,120 starts). He made six All-NBA teams and was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
Anthony, now 40 years old, currently ranks 12th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with 28,289 points.
The 6-foot-7 forward won gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Beijing (2008), London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro (2016) as well as a bronze medal in Athens (2004).
