Carmelo Anthony learned tough lessons coming of age while playing basketball on playgrounds in Brooklyn and Baltimore.
It culminated with him becoming one of the sport’s purest scorers and most decorated players ever.
Walking onto the stage for his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday to chants of “Melo! Melo,” Anthony took his place alongside basketball’s immortals.
“Pardon my language, but damn,” Anthony said, tearing up. “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. … I had to build a new road. I had to write a new ending.”
Anthony was part of a quintet of players that was inducted into the Hall on Saturday as individuals, joining Dwight Howard, Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles.