Kiyan Anthony is returning to play for Syracuse after an up-and-down freshman season with the Orange. NBA legend Carmelo Anthony’s son is maximizing his time in the offseason, focusing on strength, shot creation, conditioning, and durability.
On Thursday, Overtime released Kiyan’s interview on Instagram, where he talks about how he is using the offseason before taking a sophomore leap in the 2026-27 college basketball season.
Anthony revealed that he is more focused on his strength to add muscle over working in the gym during the offseason.
“I feel like I’ve been in a weight room more than the actual gym,” Anthony said. “I do two-a-day workouts, five days a week. I’m in the weight room six days a week. So, shoot, I mean, it’s paying off. I think I gained like 15 pounds of muscle.”
Carmelo Anthony’s Son Kiyan is Growing Massively
Anthony is working with renowned basketball skills coach Chris Brickley at Melo Center this offseason. Several posts are doing the rounds on the internet, showing Anthony working on advanced ball-handling, pull-up jumpers, footwork, and isolation scoring.
Anthony appeared to struggle with the physicality in the ACC last season. He was 6-foot-5 and roughly 185 pounds entering college.
“Right now, I’m 6’6″, 193,” Anthony added. “Oh, so you’re growing. “So yeah, I’m growing.”
This means the Orange star has already added an inch to his height and eight pounds in mass.
Anthony also revealed the size he is aiming for:
“I want to be 6’6″ or 6’7″, 200. So if I could get to 6’6″, 200, I feel like I’m in a good spot.”
Anthony averaged 8.0 points per game as a freshman. He has decided to stay in the program under the new head coach, Gerry McNamara.
His father, Carmelo, who is a legendary figure of Syracuse, shared his thoughts on Kiyan’s first season, acknowledging the pressure he might be facing carrying his name.
“To me, it wasn’t a failure year for him,” Carmelo said. “It was something that any 18year-old kid is going to go through in college, right?”
The former Los Angeles Lakers star also admitted that he does not feel comfortable with coaching these days.
“Also, they’re not recruiting high school kids no more,” Carmelo added. “You get what I’m saying? Unless you top two, three, four, five, you’re being overlooked anyway as a high school senior coming out into college. They don’t think you’re ready. They don’t think you’re mentally ready. They don’t think you’re physically ready. They just don’t think you’re ready.”
A lot is riding on Kiyan to do well in his sophomore season which in turn will open the doors to the NBA.
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