On Wednesday, it was revealed that former NBA star Carmelo Anthony was selected to the Hall of Fame class of 2025. Anthony quickly drew praise from around the NBA world, including close friend LeBron James. One the latest to heap praise on Carmelo Anthony for his Hall of Fame recognition was former Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson. Johnson took to social media to convey his thoughts on the announcement.
“I want to congratulate former NBA superstar Carmelo Anthony on being elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame!” Magic Johnson posted on his social media account. He also included an emoji of clapping hands.
It's a well-deserved honor for a player whose basketball accomplishments only fell short of an NBA championship. While in college, Anthony led Syracuse to their only national championship in program history. In the NBA, he was selected as an All-Star ten times, and was named to the NBA's 75th anniversary team. He also crossed the 28,000 career points mark with 28,289.
Related NewsArticle continues below
With Team USA, Anthony earned three Olympics gold medals and one FIBA AmeriCup gold medal. He was tied with Kevin Durant for Team USA's leader in gold medals until Durant won his fourth Olympic gold medal this past summer.
The No. 3 overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets, Anthony played 19 seasons in the NBA with his last coming in 2021-22 with the Los Angeles Lakers. Aside from the Nuggets and Lakers, Anthony also played for the New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers.
Anthony holds career averages of 22.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steals with splits of 44.7 percent shooting from the field, 35.5 percent shooting from the three-point line and 81.4 percent shooting from the free-throw line. Surprisingly though, Anthony was never selected to an All-NBA First Team. He has two All-NBA Second Team selections and four All-NBA Third Team selections. He was the NBA's scoring champ in 2013 and on the All-Rookie Team in 2004.
a]:text-link [&_>a]:underline">David Yapkowitz is a basketball journalist for ClutchPoints, writing news on the NBA, WNBA, and NCAA Basketball for both men and women. The Los Angeles native has bylines with Basketball Insiders, SB Nation, and The Next Hoops.