2025 has been a year filled with accomplishments for Carmelo Anthony and his family. The 10-time All-Star was recently inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. That isn’t the only joyous moment within the Anthony family. Carmelo’s son, Kiyan, will begin his collegiate career this fall at his father’s alma mater, Syracuse University.
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Despite being father and son and playing for the same college, Carmelo and Kiyan Anthony’s pasts were as different from each other as they could be. Melp came from a tough neighbourhood and had to battle his entire childhood to make it to the NBA. Kiyan on the other hand was the son of an NBA superstar.
Yet, even with the differences, the father-son have managed to cultivate a friendship that is a display of how close they are. So close, they don’t even shy away from acknowledging the differences.
In a recent shoot for SLAM Magazine, the two displayed a bit of the dynamic they share while asking each other a few questions. The segment began with Carmelo asking Kiyan about things he’s glad he doesn’t have to deal with from his father’s generation.
“We got our phones, I feel like that’s big,” Kyan said. “Call the coach or text. Use GPS to get around.”
Carmelo tried his best to maintain composure but eventually broke out into laughter. “He must think I’m Wilt Chamberlain,” Carmelo proclaimed. The six-time All-NBA forward had to let his son know that even he had cell phones during his high school years. The major difference between phones is that smartphones now exist.
Once Apple launched the iPhone, technology began to advance, including the rapid growth of social media. Carmelo ensured he made it clear that social media also existed early on in his career.
“I had MySpace, bro, what’re you talking about?” Carmelo said. “I had Myspace and BlackPlanet. The original Twitter.”
Shortly after, Carmelo eased up on his history lesson to agree with what Kiyan said. Technology has jumped leaps and bounds from when Carmelo was in his son’s position. The phone he had could only make calls and possibly text, but nothing else.
One of the key developments in technology is the ability to video call others, specifically highlighting FaceTime.
“We had cell phones, but we didn’t have FaceTime. You can get things accomplished a lot quicker than before,” Carmelo said.
Following Kiyan’s response to his father’s question, Carmelo provided his answer, which remained on social media. Although it has its benefits, he is extremely glad he doesn’t have to deal with the cons that come with it.
“I’m glad I don’t have to deal with what you have to deal with from a media standpoint,” Carmelo revealed. “I thought media with me was crazy. I can identify who was writing an article or who was a beat writer, or who was a columnist. You can’t identify that today.”
Nowadays, anyone can leave hate comments or even create a video degrading a player under an anonymous alias. However, through all of that, Carmelo is even more proud of his son. Kiyan remained focused on his craft despite all of the outside noise.
That noise will only get louder during his freshman season at Syracuse. Every step of Kiyan’s basketball career, he has shown he belongs. The Anthony family is expecting more of that killer instinct in college.
