Carmelo Anthony isn’t sugarcoating what it will take for his son to reach the NBA.
With Kiyan Anthony wrapping up his freshman season at Syracuse University, the same program where his father cemented his legend over two decades ago, Melo has shifted into a new role: scout.
His scouting report on his own son is precise, honest, and rooted in 19 years of NBA experience.
Melo’s Advice: Play Slower. Play Smarter.
The first note on that report is pace. Not athleticism, not scoring volume — pace. Carmelo wants Kiyan to move through the game the way the league’s most untouchable scorers do, and he’s pointing directly at two names as his north star. “I want [Kiyan] to play at a Shai pace, a Haliburton pace,” Anthony said. “You can be slim, but you also gotta know how to utilize the strength that you have.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Haliburton don’t bully defenses — they dissect them. They operate in a lower gear than everyone else on the floor, which is precisely what makes them impossible to stop. Carmelo sees the same potential in Kiyan and wants him to lean into it fully. “When I look at Shai, it’s more about he’s going to get to his spot,” Anthony explained. “He’s smart, uses his shot fakes, uses his shoulder, uses his push off, uses his angles. He just understands where I’m trying to get to and how I’m going to get there.”
That IQ — the patience, the angles, the quiet manipulation of defenders who never see the move coming — is the ceiling Carmelo is pointing Kiyan toward. At 6’5″, with a frame his father believes could grow to 6’7″ or taller, the length is already there. The rest has to be built from the ground up.
The Elephant in the Room
Carmelo didn’t dance around it. “I know the elephant in the room is he’s gotta get stronger,” he said plainly.
It’s the most important sentence in Kiyan’s development story. Skill and feel will only carry a player so far. The leap from college to the NBA is a physical reckoning. The ability to absorb contact, hold position, and finish through bodies separates prospects from players. What makes it land with extra weight is who’s delivering it. Carmelo wore that same label early in his career, before evolving into one of the most physically imposing and technically complete scorers the game has ever produced. He’s not guessing at what Kiyan needs — he lived every step of it.
That context reframes everything. This isn’t a father projecting a dream onto his son — it’s a Hall of Famer handing down a hard-earned roadmap. The destination Carmelo has been open about remains unchanged: watching Kiyan cross the draft night stage and shake the Commissioner’s hand.
Play slower. Get stronger. Trust the work. Melo knows if Kiyan does all that, the NBA stage is already waiting.
With Syracuse hiring Melo’s former teammate Gerry McNamara to become the next Syracuse head coach, Kiyan Anthony could become the face of the program.
But first, he’ll have to earn it.
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