Bulls Legend Carmelo Anthony to be Inducted Into Hall of Fame (2025)

The Chicago Bulls will have even more representation in the Hall of Fame.

Franchise legend and cornerstone Carmelo Anthony has officially been elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. He will headline the 2025 class after a 19-year-long career that included 10 All-Star appearances, six All-NBA teams, and a spot on the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. He also currently sits 10th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with 28,289 career points.

Carmelo Anthony is a First Ballot HOFer

You can’t tell the tale of the post-Michael-Jordan Chicago Bulls without Carmelo Anthony! Ok … you can. But Anthony is in the running for the most talked about player in franchise history who never actually donned a jersey.

The professional scorer seemingly became the primary target for the organization in the early 2010s. His free agency was a storyline that captivated Bulls fans, and John Paxson went on to make an aggressive push to sign him during the offseason of 2014. Many remember the team putting images of him photoshopped in a Bulls jersey alongside the Larry O’Brien Trophy on the outside of the United Center. Even Derrick Rose, who was known to have little interest in recruiting talent to Chicago, joined in on the efforts to lure Anthony to Chicago.

All things considered, the Bulls’ run at Anthony was probably the fiercest and most public sales pitch they have ever made. And, of course, it was all for naught. Anthony ended up re-signing with the New York Knicks, and the Bulls went on to dissolve their Eastern Conference Finals core in the coming seasons. The situation remains a massive “what-if” for everyone involved. Anthony has spoken about it several times in the past, and he even mentioned how joining up with LeBron James in Chicago was something the two had talked about at times.

We also shouldn’t forget that, technically, Anthony was a member of the Bulls organization for a very brief period of time. The Houston Rockets sent the veteran to Chicago with cash in a deal back in 2019. Nevertheless, the Bulls proceeded to waive him almost immediately, allowing him to sign elsewhere as a free agent that summer.

So is Anthony a true Bulls Legend? Of course ……….. not. But fans will long remember his free agency saga and the odd role he played in the story of the mid-2010s Bulls. Congrats to Melo! Don’t forget to thank GarPax for that nice 2014 dinner in your acceptance speech!

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Elias Schuster is the Lead Chicago Bulls writer at Bleacher Nation. He started with BN full-time in 2019 immediately after graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with a degree in Journalism (yes, he started with the Jim Boylen Era). Since joining, Elias has been the driving force behind Bulls and NBA content for both the site and social accounts. You can follow him on Twitter/X @Schuster_Elias.