00:00Carmelo Anthony is a 10-time NBA All-Star and three-time Olympic gold medalist who will enter the Hall of Fame this year, the Holy Grail of basketball elite.
00:10During his 19-year career, he was nicknamed Hoodie Mello as a reflection of his cool demeanor.
00:16Carmelo is one of the most prolific scorers of his generation, currently sits 10th all-time in NBA scoring.
00:21He was also a key member of Team USA in 2008, 2012 and 2016, the 41-year-old retired from basketball in 2022.
00:30Peace, everybody. This is Carmelo Anthony, NBA Class of 2025 Hall of Famer, official FIBA World Cup 2027 ambassador.
00:40And with two years to go until the best players on the planet descend on Doha to battle for basketball dominance at the World Cup,
00:46the Hall of Famer was recently in town to get the festivities started for the Qatar 2027 qualifier's draw.
00:56Hello, welcome to Doha.
00:58Nice to meet you.
00:58You know, I wanted to do this interview on a basketball court, show you my step back.
01:02Yeah, yeah, we got space.
01:03But it's not a bad place to do an interview, is it?
01:05Absolutely not.
01:06Now, you're here in Doha for the Qatar 2027 basketball qualifier's draw as the FIBA Global Ambassador.
01:13What does that role mean to you and what do you hope to accomplish?
01:16I mean, for me, it's just a, you know, it's an honor to, you know, as far as the amount of work that I put into this craft,
01:24not just on the domestic stage, but on the international stage.
01:27I mean, for the world and for FIBA to recognize that and to have me top of the list when it comes to, you know, representing the game of basketball globally.
01:38You can't, I mean, it don't get better than that in the game of basketball.
01:41Now, we really want to get into the mellow story, so let's have a seat and really do a deep dive.
01:44We just got started the draw for 2027.
01:50Speaking of what's to come, what can fans expect what's to come in 2027 here in Qatar?
01:55Yeah, I think the fans are going to see it.
01:56I think they, you know, they want to know what's, what it is.
02:00You know, I think it's a lot of questions of what it's going to be.
02:03For me to be a part of that and showing the rest of the world and even showing, you know, back where we are in America that it's not just about America.
02:15You know, it's other places, other regions around the world who's actually taking the seeds that, you know, America's planted and growing them globally now.
02:24So we're seeing those, those seeds blossom now.
02:27So now you're still one of the most name-dropped athletes in music, from Beyonce shouting you out to late rapper Pop Smoke calling you the king of New York.
02:35How does it feel to be a pop culture icon?
02:37I mean, you know, it's, it's, I would say it's an honor because you, those are artists that, you know, Beyonce could have said anybody's name.
02:46But for me to be at the top of her mind when she's writing that verse or writing that lyric, says something.
02:52I don't know if she's watching the game or something just happened or whatever it was.
02:55Somebody like Pop Smoke, we, you know, us in New York understand his influence and the culture, his influence in the streets, his influence in New York.
03:04So for the younger generation to, to see that and acknowledge that, you know, it goes to show you that, you know, we're touching multiple generations, impacting multiple generations.
03:13You're one of the first players to really control your narrative.
03:15You've got Hip Podcast, 7 p.m. in Brooklyn.
03:17You're going to join NBC as an NBA studio analyst.
03:20Why is it important for you to really take control of, of, of who Carmelo is?
03:25You have to control your narrative.
03:26I think we're in a time where you control your own narrative.
03:30I mean, we don't have to wait for somebody else to write a headline for us or write some bullet points for us.
03:35We can do that on our own, on our own time.
03:37It's too many false narratives, not, not just on myself, but just in general, in the, in the game, in the sport.
03:44Tell me what the story you're telling you, Ashman, why that's important to you?
03:46The stories that I, I, I like to tell, I, I come from those environments.
03:50I understand the wants, the needs, the acts, um, the, the, the, the, the lack of hope in, in those environments.
03:58So when you see that, it's, it's beauty in that too.
04:01You know, you just want to, you want to tell, tell that story.
04:03You want the world to see.
04:04Now we all know Hall of Fame Carmelo Anthony, but young Melo's journey was anything but easy.
04:10You know, take us back to the early days in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and then eventually Baltimore.
04:15Yeah, I mean, those days are, I mean, it's, it's, uh, how can I say it?
04:18When challenging is, is what would be the word, um, you see things, you hear things, you, you're part of an event that it's, it's just very difficult to grow up in and to, and to survive and to come out of that.
04:30I'll just give you a little bit of background, like my mom, I was a single parent, single parent home, two brothers, one sister, two cousins, two aunts, and an uncle in the house.
04:39And the three bedroom, that's how we survived.
04:41And it was every age, right?
04:43So you had to really get in and to fit in, right?
04:46Whether it was meals, whether it was the shower, whether it was washing, washing machine, whatever it was, it was competition.
04:53So it was very, very difficult, uh, kind of navigating those walls and navigating that world.
05:00So, so I, I'll take my hat off to my mom for, you know, it was always, we're going to be all right, we're going to be okay, we're going to figure it out.
05:07And she always did.
05:08So that, you know, those morals and standards that was instilled in me at an early age, they were never going to work.
05:14So when you come out of that, you have a different understanding of what it means to go through or live in situations like that or go through daily occurrences.
05:22So that part of my life has really jump-started and made me understand why I'm here today.
05:29Like, that was, that was the beginning.
05:31Was playing ball an escape from reality?
05:33Playing ball, for me, early, it was a part of reality.
05:36Because you, you can't escape it.
05:38It's the court, your apartment, everything is in that complex.
05:42So you can't really escape the reality.
05:45You can just, you have to be creative.
05:46You had to go out there and think and, and, and come up with scenarios and, and visualize.
05:52Playing ball was just something fun to do at this point in time.
05:56We felt like it was part of the, the calendar, it was part of the schedule on a daily basis.
06:00Later on, the court became my, uh, like my sanctuary.
06:03Where it just, like, I, I know I could go in here and just, for two, three hours, nobody's going to bother me.
06:08No phones, no, you know, if I want to be here by myself, I'm going to be here by myself.
06:13You recently gave a commencement speech at Syracuse where you won a national championship.
06:17Your son is going to go in the fall.
06:19Just take us through what you wanted to relate to that class.
06:22Now, I've been here before.
06:23I've walked in those shoes, but it's your time now.
06:27Because now you are going on to whatever is next, right?
06:31And you're not going to have it figured out.
06:33You're not going to understand it.
06:33You're not going to know it.
06:35But don't let nobody keep you in the box.
06:37And you're going to have multiple careers.
06:38You're going to have multiple avenues to, to, to do something in life.
06:42You don't just, you know, get stuck on one experience, go through the journey, and you're still young, right?
06:50And when you said you realized you were more than an athlete, what does that mean?
06:53I mean, it's, people tell you every day, I mean, just shoot, go, go get on the court, just stay on the court or stay on the field or stay on the pitch.
07:00And now I think that's the worst thing you could possibly tell an athlete because we're so much, you know, multidimensional when it comes to just who we are, right?
07:09Basketball might be a small part of who we are.
07:12And most people just focus on the small part of who we are as people.
07:16You have a famous quote where you're saying you have two choices.
07:19Every day you can wake up or continue to sleep or you can chase your dreams.
07:23What successes are you still chasing?
07:26I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm headed down a path of like just experiences and, and newness and, and trying to put so many different things together that make sense and, and, and understand it.
07:36It's a, it's a real community effort when it comes to making that happen.
07:39So I'm, I'm, I'm excited about what's to come.
07:42You know, I, I know we experienced a lot of good things now, a lot of good energy that's surrounding myself and the team.
07:48But we, I feel like we're just getting started.
07:51Thank you for taking us on the Mellow journey.
