2025 Kentucky Derby: NBC announces Carmelo Anthony as NBA analyst during coverage

NBC announced Saturday that Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony will join its NBA coverage as a studio analyst for the 2025-26 season. The reveal came during the network’s coverage of the Kentucky Derby as Anthony joined the broadcast.

“Watching the NBA on NBC growing up shaped my love for the game,” Anthony said. “Now I’m thrilled to join the NBC Sports family. I’ve always used my platform to help grow the game, and I’m excited to bring fans a fresh perspective as we usher in a new era of NBA coverage and programming.”

Anthony played 19 seasons in the NBA before announcing his retirement in 2023. He played for a total of six different franchises throughout his career, primarily the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks.

Anthony is a 10-time All-Star who also won the scoring title in 2012-13 when he averaged 28.7 points per game. He currently ranks 10th in league history with 28,289 career points and is a three-time Olympic gold medalist.

Anthony was named part of the 2025 class for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and is set to be inducted this September. He will get to work at NBC just a month later in October in time for the season to tip off.

In college, Anthony led Syracuse to a national championship win as a true freshman in 2003. He averaged 22.2 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game before being taken third overall in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Nuggets.

NBC is making its return to NBA coverage next season after more than two decades. The move comes as TNT is no longer set to brodcast games after the league reached an agreement on a new media rights deal that includes NBC, ESPN/ABC and Amazon.

Carmelo Anthony is set to be joined by former NBA players Jamal Crawford and Reggie Miller, both of whom will serve as game analysts. Mike Tirico and Noah Eagle have also been announced as play-by-play analysts.

Anthony will reportedly be in the studio a minimum of one night per week from the regular season through the playoffs. Asked what he is most excited about when it comes to starting his broadcast career, he noted that it will give him a chance to work in a team environment for the first time since his playing days.

“I think just building a team, getting back into a team-oriented aspect,” Anthony said. “Talking the game, speaking the game, figuring out what’s the ‘why’ on what a lot of people are doing, what a lot of players are doing in the game. The game within the game, I think, needs to be talked about.”