Carmelo Anthony's son Kiyan Anthony plays NBA word association; labels LeBron James as a veteran
Carmelo Anthony's son Kiyan Anthony appeared as a guest on the 'Sloane Knows' podcast with host Sloane this week. He discussed his experience so far playing on high school and AAU circuits.
For a segment, Kiyan played an NBA word game where Sloane would give him a word and he had to name an NBA player who fit the word. When Sloane said the word 'veteran,' the 6-foot-5 guard thought for a while and answered 'LeBron'.
[Check it out at 19:33 in the following video]
The Lakers star, who turns 40 this December, is certainly considered a sage veteran of the league having spent 20 seasons in the league and winning four championships. Kiyan's father Carmelo Anthony played together with LeBron James at the Lakers for a season.
Here are the other answers Kiyan Anthony provided in the word game.
- Defense - Jrue Holiday
- IQ - Chris Paul
- Clutch - Damian Lillard
- Aura - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- Vision - LaMelo Ball
- Instincts - Ja Morant
- Drip - Jordan Clarkson
Kiyan Anthony says the decision to pick Syracuse is entirely up to him
Kiyan Anthony, a four-star guard, who will enter his final year of high school at Long Island Lutheran High, has yet to commit to a program.
In his final list of programs, Kiyan included his father's alma mater Syracuse, where Carmelo won the national championship. Because of Melo's legacy, there is a natural tendency to link him to the Orange. However, Kiyan has insisted that Carmelo has not pressured him to choose Syracuse.
"[My father] never pushes me to go to Syracuse just because his name is on the gym," Kiyan told ESPN's Myron Medcalf on Wednesday. "He did so much at Syracuse. He knows that I'm my own person. I've just got to make my own decision at the end of the day.
"If it is Syracuse—I go there a lot and I practice, I work out there—if it is that, that's what it is. But he's never going to say, 'You got to go to Syracuse. You got to go there because I went there.' He's not going to make me follow in his footsteps unless I really want to."
Obviously, going to Syracuse would leave Kiyan Anthony with huge pressure since he would be arriving with high expectations and shoes to fill in. But he believes that the school is recruiting him for who he is as an individual, not just because of his father. Kiyan visited the campus in October last year.