"I'm not a selfish player": When Carmelo Anthony's son Kiyan Anthony shared his thoughts on being a team player
Due to his connection with one of the best shooters in the NBA, fans expect Kiyan Anthony to be a sniper on the court. Even though the 17-year-old has lived up to fans' expectations, he aims to carve his own route to the big league. One of those ways is by being a team-first player and allowing his teammates to have their fair share of moments.
A glimpse of Anthony's team-first mindset was seen in last year's episode 7 of Overtime's YouTube show, Evolution. Team Melo struggled against the Georgia Stars in one of their 2023 circuit games. Down by 13, they entered the fourth to bounce back from an off-shooting night.
Luckily, as Carmelo Anthony derived a game plan, point guard Devin Toatley put on a brief clinic, bringing the squad back into contention. This prompted Kiyan and the crew to urge their coach to continue putting the ball in Toatley's hands.
"In the fourth quarter, Toat completely took over the game," Kiyan said. "Layups, threes, and-1s, floaters, everything. At that point, they called a timeout, coach was trying to run a play and we was like 'Nah, just give the ball back to Toat. So we kept feeding him and he just kept going.
"I'm not a selfish player. If you are hot, I'm gonna keep feeding and he was hot. Everybody on the team can't have 20, can't stress too much about it, I was just trying to find other ways to impact the game," he added.
Not only did Kiyan Anthony step out of the limelight, he soon followed Devin Toatley's leadership. Instead of looking for ways to score, he began looking for open teammates and was nearing a triple-double. Team Melo came back to win the game 64-55.
Kiyan Anthony’s 2023 EYBL stats
The 2023 EYBL marked the first-ever stint by Team Melo in the U17 group. Anthony had earlier participated in the EYBL on the U15 roster. Due to his inexperience against older players, Kiyan Anthony was restricted from coming off the bench.
Moreover, as Team Melo played a total of 24 games in the tourney, Anthony was handed playing time in only five. Despite that, Anthony averaged 7.8 points, 2.6 assists and 1 rebound within 14 minutes of game time, shooting 34.5% from the field.
His best game was in a 52-71 loss against the Houston Hoops, where he scored 21 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists while shooting 46.2% from the field in 25 minutes.