After years in his dad's shadow, Kiyan Anthony charts his own path to Syracuse while strengthening family bond

Kiyan Anthony has had eyeballs on him for years, being a top NBA prospect throughout high school. But that number has always been multiplied, given who his father is.

His dad is soon-to-be Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony, a 10-time All-Star and widely regarded as one of the best pure scorers in basketball history.

 Kiyan, like his dad, is going to play college basketball at Syracuse, in his own words, for two years "max." And now that his dad's playing days are over, Carmelo is "more hands on deck."

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"I wouldn't say we're closer (than when he was playing). I would just say he's more like more hands on deck, more foot on ground. So just him being there at my games, him being there, me able to go to his house and just spend a day with him, I feel like that was some stuff that we were missing while he was traveling, while he was in the league," Kiyan said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital. "So me being able to spend more time with him off the court and him investing all his time into me on the court, whether it's working out, and him coming to my games, I feel like that's what's bought us closer about our bonding, our connection was always there, but it just kind of got stronger and it kind of grew."

Some father-son bonding came in a collaboration with Meta, where the duo filmed an episode of "Close Friends Only" to celebrate Father's Day, where they talked about their relationship, basketball, and regular dad-to-son talking points.

"Being able to collab with Meta and Instagram and show our other side off the court, just showing our personality and the bond that me and my dad have, I feel like that was a great outlet to do so. And it was really fun working with them. And I feel like that's why we did it," Kiyan said. 

"People see him all the time at my games on the sideline, but never really see, like, our real connection off the court. So, I feel like doing these collaborations and these interviews and these podcasts, it gives us another chance to really show the fans like the type of bond that we're building and the type of connection we have."

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Kiyan admitted that there used to be some "pressure" to live up to the hype, especially with his bloodline. But at the end of the day, his NBA dreams are his, not his dad's. 

"To be honest, early in my career, I wasn't even that good at basketball. So just having a lot of opinions and people saying I'm not that good and my dad not being there because he was still in the league, just me trying to handle it by myself," Kiyan said. "But as I started getting better, as I kept working, people started to kind of take my side, so now I got a lot of fans. Obviously, it's a lot of haters out there, a lot of mixed opinions, but, you know, I’m just driving, and I look forward to every game, having a big fan base there. I know everywhere I go, there's going to be a lot of eyes on me. So I just try to present myself in the best way possible every time I step out."

"My dad was never the type of person to force me on that I had to play basketball, that I had to do what he did. So he kind of just let me rock and kind of let me make my own decisions, but it just so happened that this is what I wanted to do, and this is what I fell in love with," he continued. "So now I have the chance in following his footsteps to go to his school, hopefully win some games. Obviously, the NBA is the main goal, but whether I go to school for one year or two years, it's always going to be there. So just trying to better every day. This is what I want to do. I had a long talk with my dad about that the other day, I was actually just telling him, like, this is what I want to do, and I'm super locked in."

The first step to living up to the Anthony name is starring for the Orange, where Melo won a championship in 2003. It's been up and down for Syracuse in recent years, but the younger Anthony is ready to bring back the glory days.

"My dad won a national championship. Obviously, that’s the main goal, but even if I go in there and win some games, make it to the tournament, win a couple games in the tournament, I feel like that's a huge success, because the past couple years, they've been off the grid," Kiyan admitted. "They haven't been making a tournament. They haven't been winning a lot of games in conference. So, I'll just try to go in there and really just bring the fan base back, bring what Syracuse is about, and everybody knows what it's about. They just haven't had the success these past few years."

Fox News' Connor McGahan contributed to this report.

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