Carmelo Anthony Officially Announces Retirement from NBA

It’s the end of an era for Carmelo Anthony

The 38-year-old Puerto Rican professional basketball player, the star forward who led Syracuse to an NCAA championship in his lone college season and went on to spend 19 years in the NBA, has announced his retirement.

Carmelo AnthonyAnthony, who was not in the NBA this season, retires as the No. 9 scorer in league history.

Only LeBron JamesKareem Abdul-JabbarKarl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk NowitzkiWilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O’Neal scored more than Anthony, who finishes his career with 28,289 points.

“Now the time has come for me to say goodbye … to the game that gave me purpose and pride,” Anthony said in a videotaped message announcing his decision — one he called “bittersweet.”

Anthony’s legacy has long been secure: He ends his playing days after being selected as one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history, a 10-time NBA All-Star, a past scoring champion and a six-time All-NBA selection.

And while he never got to the NBA Finals — he only played in the conference finals once, with Denver against the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers in 2009 — Anthony also knew what it was like to be a champion.

He was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2003 Final Four when he led Syracuse to the national championship, and he helped the U.S. win Olympic gold three times — at Beijing in 2008, at London in 2012 and at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

His college coach at Syracuse, the now-retired Jim Boeheim, tweeted a “welcome to retirement” message to his former star.

“I am honored to have been a part of your legendary career, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for you,” Boeheim wrote.

Anthony played in 31 games in four appearances at the Olympics, the most of any U.S. men’s player ever. Anthony’s 37 points against Nigeria in the 2012 games is a USA Basketball men’s record at an Olympics, as are his 10 3-pointers from that game and his 13-for-13 effort from the foul line against Argentina in 2008.

“Carmelo Anthony is one of the NBA’s all-time great players and ambassadors,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said. “We congratulate him on a remarkable 19-year career and look forward to seeing him in the Hall of Fame.”

Anthony will remain part of international basketball for at least a few more months; Anthony is one of the ambassadors to the Basketball World Cup, FIBA‘s biggest event, which will be held this summer in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.

“I remember the days when I had nothing, just a ball on the court and a dream of something more,” Anthony said. “But basketball was my outlet. My purpose was strong, my communities, the cities I represented with pride and the fans that supported me along the way. I am forever grateful for those people and places because they made me Carmelo Anthony.”

Anthony was drafted No. 3 overall by Denver in 2003, part of the star-studded class that included James at No. 1, Hall of Famer Chris Bosh at No. 4 and soon-to-be Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade — he gets officially enshrined this summer — at No. 5.

Anthony will join them at the Hall of Fame before long — the Hall of Fame said he will be eligible for the 2026 class. He averaged 22.5 points in his 19 seasons, spending the bulk of those years with the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks. Anthony has long raved about his time with the Knicks, and what it was like playing at Madison Square Garden, especially as a kid who was born in Brooklyn.

He was the NBA’s leading scorer with 28.7 points per game in 2012-13, when the Knicks won 54 games and the Atlantic Division title.

“The Garden,” Anthony said in 2014. “They call it The Mecca for a reason.”

Anthony spent his first 7½ NBA seasons in Denver, becoming the third-leading scorer in franchise history. His Nuggets teams had seven consecutive winning seasons and earned seven playoff berths, but they advanced in the postseason just once, ending in that six-game conference finals loss to the Lakers in 2009.

“He wore that Nuggets jersey with pride and did a lot of great things while in a Denver Nuggets uniform, as well as all the other uniforms he wore in an illustrious career,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said Monday before Denver faced the Lakers in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals, hoping to clinch the franchise’s first NBA Finals appearance. “When you think of Carmelo, you think of one of the more elite scorers in NBA history, a guy that from the D.C. metro area goes to Syracuse and wins a championship and comes into the NBA and was just a bucket-getter from day one.”

Anthony also played for Portland, Oklahoma City, Houston and ended his career with the Lakers last season. He went unsigned this year, and now his retirement is official.

He said in his retirement address that he’s looking forward to watching the development of his son Kiyan, a highly rated high school shooting guard.

“People ask what I believe my legacy is,” Anthony said. “It’s not my feats on the court that come to mind, all the awards or praise. Because my story has always been more than basketball. My legacy, my son … I will forever continue through you. The time has come for you to carry this torch.”

Los Angeles Lakers to Retire Pau Gasol’s No. 16 Jersey

Pau Gasol’s name and number are headed to the rafters…

The 42-year-old Spanish former professional basketball player will join a long line of legendary players when his number is retired in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ rafters next season.

Pau Gasol

The Lakers will honor Gasol’s No. 16 on March 7 when it hosts the Memphis Grizzlies, the team has announced as part of its schedule release for 2022-23.

Gasol, a six-time NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA team selection, was traded from the Memphis to L.A. in 2008 and teamed with Kobe Bryant to lead the Lakers to three straight NBA Finals appearances and two championships.

Gasol played in L.A. until 2014 when he signed with the Chicago Bulls as a free agent. He earned three of his six career All-Star appearances in his time with the franchise.

He retired from basketball last fall after a final season in his native Spain.

Gasol’s jersey will hang alongside Hall of Fame centers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal and Wilt Chamberlain as well as Bryant, Magic JohnsonJerry WestElgin BaylorJames Worthy, Gail Goodrich and Jamaal Wilkes.

Lin-Manuel Miranda to Take Part in Virtual Birthday Fundraiser for Harry Belafonte

Lin-Manuel Miranda is helping celebrate a living legend…

The 41-year-old Puerto Rican actor, singer, songwriter, rapper, composer, director, producer, author and playwright will honor Harry Belafonte, who will turn 94 years old on March 1, during a virtual birthday concert.

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Miranda is among a cadre of friends and famous fans that will gather this Sunday for a virtual event that will feature performances, video tributes and testimonials by civil rights and racial justice leaders, politicians, artists, athletes and more. It will serve as a fundraiser for Belafonte’s Gathering for Justice organization and is sponsored in part by the Hope and Robert F. Smith family.

Belafonte founded the organization in 2005 after seeing a news story of a 5-year-old Black girl who was cuffed and arrested in her Florida classroom for “being unruly.” Since then, the organization’s mission is to build a movement to end child incarceration while working to eliminate racial inequities.

Titled The Gathering for Harry, the event will feature Common, Danny Glover, Alfre Woodard, Chuck D, Bernie and Jane Sanders, Stacey Abrams, Aloe Blacc, Tamika D. Mallory, Rev. Al Sharpton, Jackie Cruz, Aja Monet, Mysonne the General, Diane Nash, Carmen Perez-Jordan, DJ Carisma, Bryan Stevenson, Bernadette Peters, Christopher Jackson, Tony Shalhoub and more.

As of February 23, event organizers announced that Jay-Z was confirmed to appear to accept a Gatekeeper of Truth Award. Also new to the list are Tiffany Haddish, Usher, Miranda, Charlamagne Tha God, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Susan Sarandon, Pete Buttigieg and others.

The virtual party will be held Sunday, February 28, at 7:00 pm ET.

More information about how to take part in the event can be found here.