Carmelo Anthony uses Paul George's Olympic exclusion as a powerful teaching lesson for son Kiyan
Carmelo Anthony is known as one of the best performers in USA Basketball history. During his latest 7PM in Brooklyn podcast episode, he had Sixers star Paul George on the show.
Anthony highlighted George's Olympic exclusion to provide a strong lesson for his son, Kiyan Anthony. With how stacked and talented this year's Team USA roster is, George was not able to make the final cut.
George revealed that he was originally asked by Warriors coach Steve Kerr after one of the Clippers' games if he had any interest in representing the USA this summer. He even had a brief conversation with USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill about the situation not working out in his favor.
Knicks legend Carmelo Anthony pointed out a similar situation that his son experienced with USA Basketball.
"I asked that question because he was in a similar situation with USA Basketball," Anthony said. "Went there, thought he had a shot, didn't make the team for whatever reason. I'm trying to get him to understand the mindset of that, like you can't live off of that. You got to keep going."
Despite Paul George being one of the best two-way athletes in the NBA, he was still not able to make this year's Olympic roster. Anthony didn't want that kind of situation to derail Kiyan's mentality with basketball moving forward.
Carmelo Anthony gave Paul George his flowers for inspiring his son
During the same podcast episode, Carmelo Anthony credited George for being an inspiring figure for Kiyan to look up to when he was finding his style of play with basketball.
"I want to give you your flowers though," Anthony said, "and also say thank you for inspiring him. ... That's big. Thank you champ for inspiring my son to be happy, say 'PG' in the house all f***ing day, all night. Thank you for that."
Kiyan Anthony is one of the many basketball players, like Hornets forward Brandon Miller, who aspire to be like Paul George. Coupled with his shotmaking prowess and defensive capabilities, the 76ers star has been known for how smoothly he makes it all look on the floor.
In the 74 games he played last season, George put up 22.6 points (47.1% shooting, including 41.3% from 3-point range) and 5.2 rebounds per game on average.