SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Carmelo Anthony learned tough lessons coming of age 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 inducted into the Hall on Saturday as individuals, joining Dwight Howard, Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles. Together they were part of 11 WNBA or NBA championship teams, captured 15 Olympic gold medals, made 37 All-NBA or All-WNBA appearances and were named All-Stars 45 times in their careers.

“I never got an NBA ring. ... But I know what I gave to the game,” Anthony said.

Anthony and Howard were dual-enshrinees as members of the 2008 Olympic men’s basketball team that became known as the “Redeem Team,” after winning gold at the Beijing Games that summer after capturing a bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics and 2006 FIBA world championships.

Howard and Anthony joined 2008 team members Jason Kidd, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the late Kobe Bryant, who were already enshrined as individuals.

This year’s class was rounded out by Chicago Bulls coach and two-time NCAA champion Billy Donovan, Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison and longtime NBA referee Danny Crawford.

All the members of Redeem Team were in attendance, with the exception of Bryant, who died in 2020.

LeBron James, who was 23 years old in 2008, said the tone for that team was set by the Lakers great.

“We just wanted to get to his level and make him proud,” James said.