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Carmelo Anthony, who won three Olympic gold medals with the U.S. men’s national basketball team and an NCAA championship with Syracuse, and Sue Bird, a five-time Olympic gold medalist, headline a 2025 class elected into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Anthony was a 10-time NBA All-Star, a six-time All-NBA performer, named one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history, and is 10th on the league’s all-time scoring list with 28,289 points.
Bird is one of the all-time great women’s basketball players – a 13-time All-Star, eight-time All-WNBA selection, four-time WNBA champion, two-time NCAA champion, and one of the 25 greatest players in WNBA history. She is the league’s all-time leader in assists (3,234) and No. 8 on the all-time scoring list (6,803).
They were easy choices for inclusion into this year’s Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class, which was announced Saturday in San Antonio.
Also headed to the Basketball Hall of Fame: Dwight Howard, Maya Moore, Sylvia Fowles, Danny Crawford, the 2008 U.S. Olympic men’s team, Billy Donovan and Micky Arison.
Enshrinement weekend is Sept. 5-6, with the enshrinement ceremony taking place at Symphony Hall in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Here’s a look at the 2025 Basketball Hall of Fame class:
Carmelo Anthony
Over his 19 seasons in the NBA, most notably with the Nuggets and Knicks, Anthony was a prolific shooter and scorer whose 28,289 career points rank 10th all-time. He averaged 22.5 points and led the league in scoring at 28.7 points per game in 2012-13. Anthony’s 37 points against Nigeria at the 2012 London Olympics remain a single-game record for the U.S. men’s national team.
“I keep trying to come up with things to say for these moments and there’s nothing that I can say that’s actually going to express the way that I feel or the way that I’m just trying to take this moment in,” Anthony said. “To be sitting here as an inductee of the ’25 Hall of Fame, not just as an individual but also as a team, 2008 USA Team member, it’s a lot to put into perspective. You get the call about coming to be entered into the Hall of Fame for what you’ve done for your career and as an individual and what you’ve brought to this game of basketball.”
2008 U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team
Known as the “Redeem Team,” the 2008 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team swept through its schedule with an 8-0 record at the Beijing Summer Games with an average margin of victory of 27.9 points per game. After a disappointing bronze-medal effort at the 2004 Athens Olympics, Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski helped re-energize the U.S. men’s national team, which has now won five consecutive Olympic gold medals.
Dwight Howard
Known as a dominant presence in the paint, Howard was a three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, winning the award in consecutive seasons (2009-11). Howard ranks 10th in NBA history in rebounds (14,627) and 13th in blocks (2,228). He made the All-Star and All-NBA teams eight times and won an NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020. He averaged 15.7 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks.
“This is such an amazing honor,” Howard said. “I’ve been playing the game of basketball my whole entire life. To make it to heaven, this is the only way I can describe it, it’s such a beautiful thing. This is what you dream for. It’s what you sit at home and shoot basketball all day and all night for, just to make it to basketball heaven.
“I’m just overwhelmed with joy, gratitude, all the emotions, every one. The words cannot describe how this moment feels just to be up on this stage to represent my family, to represent my friends, all the people who have went along with this journey with me – the good, the bad and the ugly. It has all led to being up in the Hall of Fame.”
Sue Bird
Known as a pioneer and one of the greatest point guards of all time, Bird is a four-time WNBA champion and a league record 13-time All-Star who played all 21 seasons with the Seattle Storm. She is the all-time leader in wins (333), games played (580), assists (3,234), and minutes (18,079).
Maya Moore
She played just eight seasons in the WNBA before she devoted her time to social justice reform, but Moore is a six-time All-Star and four-time champion. She averaged 23.9 points per game in 2014, leading the league, and propelling her to the 2014 WNBA Most Valuable Player award.
“Obviously well deserved. Two of the greatest to ever play the game,” UConn star Paige Bueckers said of Bird and Moore. “Growing up in Minnesota … Maya Moore was my everything. That whole dynasty and whole team. Those are shoes, both of theirs, that I aspire to fill.”
Billy Donovan
Although his record in the NBA hasn’t been as prolific as it was in college, Donovan’s two consecutive national championships with the Florida Gators (2006 and 2007) elevated the program to previously uncharted territory; they remain the only national titles the Gators have won in men’s basketball. Donovan, who is the coach of the Chicago Bulls, won at least 30 games three times with Florida, including 36 victories in 2013-14.
“I’ve been fortunate to coach a lot of great players, guys that were committed to the game, to winning, and I was really, really blessed to have so many great coaches and people around me for such a long period of time,” Donovan said. ‘I’m thankful. I’m really humbled sitting up here. I think when you get into the game of basketball, at least for me, I never thought about sitting up here one day and being inducted into the Hall of Fame. You did it because you loved it.”
Sylvia Fowles
An eight-time All-Star and the 2017 WNBA Most Valuable Player, Fowles is also a four-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year (2011, 2013, 2016, 2021).
Danny Crawford
He was an NBA official for 32 seasons (1985-2017) and officiated more than 2,000 regular-season games, 300 postseason games and was appointed to officiate at least one NBA Finals game in 23 consecutive seasons.
Micky Arison
He bought the Miami Heat in 1995 and has ushered in a period of stability and success, overseeing three NBA championships (2006, 2012, 2013) and seven Eastern Conference championships.
“I am deeply honored to be joining Heat AT greats Alonzo Mourning, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Shaquille O’Neal, Ray Allen, Tim Hardaway, Gary Payton and of course my dear friend Pat Riley in the Basketball Hall of Fame,” Arison said in a statement. “When my father Ted Arison brought the Heat to Miami almost 40 years ago, he did not do so for accolades. He did it because he thought it was best for Miami. Madeleine, Nick, Kelly and I have been the proud stewards of that vision and are so proud of what the Heat mean both in our community and to fans around the world. For some, this is an individual honor. But for me, this speaks to what our entire Heat family – players, coaches, staff and fans – have built together.”
Contributing: Nancy Armour
