
It's a cool story when you think about the history of the Syracuse Orange men's basketball program.
The Orange won a national championship in 2002-03, led by Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara.
McNamara is now the new head coach at Syracuse, and Anthony's son, guard Kiyan Anthony, will be playing for Carmelo's former teammate.
The younger Anthony was a freshman at Syracuse this past season, but he absolutely could have decided to leave via the transfer portal when the coach who recruited him, Adrian Autry, was fired.
McNamara replaced Autry, and Kiyan Anthony has decided to remain with the program that helped make his dad a basketball superstar.
NEWS: Syracuse guard Kiyan Anthony will return to the program to play for new head coach Gerry McNamara, he told @On3.
— Joe Tipton (@JoeTipton) April 8, 2026
The 6-5 freshman is the son of ‘Cuse legend Carmelo Anthony, who was teammates with McNamara on the 2003 national championship team.https://t.co/mAcpK78AZU pic.twitter.com/8x2JMRPi66
Kiyan Anthony checks in at 6-foot-5, 185 pounds, and he's from Brooklyn, New York.
He was ranked as a four-star shooting guard in the 2025 class, and he was the top overall player from the state of New York.
Anthony played 18.7 minutes per game for the Orange in 2025-26 and made the most of his time as a freshman. He averaged eight points and 1.4 rebounds per game.
His freshman season, while good, is a stark comparison to his father's.
In his one season in college, Carmelo averaged 22.2 points, 10 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He was the Big East Rookie of the Year, a consensus All-American and then went No. 3 overall in the 2003 NBA Draft to the Denver Nuggets.
Carmelo Anthony played 19 NBA seasons and is a Hall of Famer.
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