Baltimore-native Carmelo Anthony announces NBA retirement

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore-native Carmelo Anthony has announced his retirement from the NBA after 19 seasons in the league. 

While Anthony was born in Brooklyn, New York, his family moved to Baltimore when he was 8 years old. He later attended Towson Catholic High School.

A heartfelt video announcement featured a presidential citation he received from the City of Baltimore last year. 

The 10-time All-Star spoke about how his history shaped him, saying he was "grateful for those people and places, because they made me Carmelo Anthony."

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

Only LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O'Neal scored more than Anthony — who finishes his career with 28,289 points with six different teams.

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 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 USA Basketball win Olympic gold three times — at Beijing in 2008, at London in 2012 and at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.