Former NBA greats Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard headlined a stellar class that was officially welcomed into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday night, writes Kyle Hightower of The Associated Press.
Anthony, who ranks 12th in career scoring with 28,289 points, played for six teams in 19 NBA seasons. The 10-time All-Star was serenaded with “Melo!” chants as he walked to the podium to deliver his induction speech and teared up as he addressed the crowd.
“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,” Anthony said. … “I had to build a new road. I had to write a new ending.”
“I never got an NBA ring,” he later added. “… But I know what I gave to the game.”
Howard was one of the league’s most dominant big men during his 18-year career, which saw him spend time with seven teams. He paid tribute to other historically great centers, mentioning Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Dikembe Mutombo, and referenced his long-running “Superman feud” with Shaquille O’Neal.
The eight-time All-Star wrapped up his speech with a message for his children, telling them, “You only die once, but you live every day.”
Anthony and Howard were also inducted as members of the “Redeem Team,” which reclaimed the gold medal for the U.S. at the 2008 Olympics after Team USA for the bronze in 2004. All the members of that team were present at the ceremony, except for Kobe Bryant, who died in 2020. Anthony and Howard joined Bryant, Jason Kidd, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh as double enshrinees.
Also inducted on Saturday were former WNBA players Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles, Bulls coach Billy Donovan, Heat managing general partner Micky Arison and longtime referee Danny Crawford. Arison delivered one of the night’s funniest lines, referencing LeBron James‘ prediction when he teamed up with Bosh and Wade in Miami.
“In 2010, with Dwyane, LeBron and Chris Bosh we knew we could win,” Arison said. “Not one, not two … I guess it was just two.”
Did the Bulls know Billy Donovan was getting inducted before they extended him? Seem like it.
Maya Moore is the best on and off the court!!!
I love how satisfying the Basketball HOF is compared with the Baseball one, which has like 2 dozen first ballot guys not allowed in despite having the numbers and in many cases even being dead. Hoops just puts in everyone who was good, easy. But with baseball, their ban WAS the punishment – all these guys got punished, so why did that punishment keep going and extending into the HOF? Do they know how hard MLB is? And all these guys were MLB-level talents from the jumpoff, so its obvious they were juicing mostly to get stronger and stay healthier. Both pitchers and hitters did it and were entertaining us, punish them by banning them from the current league only, but put them ALL in the HOF. Baseball is so petty and ridiculous compared to hoops.