He may not have won a championship, but Carmelo Anthony created a legacy of his own. And now it’s time for his son, Kiyan, to further this legacy. The 17-year-old has shown tremendous improvement within just a few months’ span. But the important question is if it is enough to surpass or at least match his father’s legacy to replicate a similar or bigger success in the big league. Let’s have a closer look at how Kiyan has been doing so far as compared to his father.

For the first three years of his high school life, Carmelo Anthony was in Towson Catholic High School. As per the reports, Melo’s game attained a different level of growth after he grew five inches in 1999. Subsequently, he earned himself the title of Baltimore Sun’s Metro Player of the Year in 2001 and Baltimore Catholic League Player of the Year.

Averaging 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists in his sophomore year, Melo increased this statistic to 23 points and 10.3 rebounds as a junior. Kiyan’s high school journey so far is more or less similar. Notably, the 17-year-old was in Christ the King (Middle Village) till the first half of his sophomore season. Later, he transferred to Long Island Lutheran, looking for a higher level of competition and exposure, as stated by him.

Till the start of this year, Kiyan was averaging nearly 10.3 points, 2.4 assists, and 2.3 rebounds per game for the No. 3-ranked team in the National Top 10, Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, N.Y.).

However, Kiyan has shown a tremendous improvement in this statistic since his AAU appearance. Now, although his father went to play in the AAU for a single season, a comparison would paint a better picture of the future.

Carmelo Anthony and Kiyan’s stat comparison at AAU

As per the previously pointed out similarity, just like Kiyan, Melo had also changed his high school. The 10x All-Star back then had made up his mind to enter Syracuse. In order to get higher grades to meet this aim, he transferred to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. In the summer of 2001, Melo led his AAU Baltimore Select team to the Adidas Big Time Tournament’s Final Four. Averaging 25.2 points per game in the tournament, he garnered significant attention for himself.

Meanwhile, Kiyan in his recent performance at Nike’s EYBL averaged 19.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Some of his most notable performances included 29 points against Team Final (PA) and 28 points against Houston Hoops (TX). Melo had a better stat line in the AAU, but his son has surpassed him with his top 100 camp stats. The 17-year-old averaged 28.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in 8 games at the camp. His most notable performance came against team Miami Heat at the camp.

Scoring 42 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists in the game, Kiyan garnered some major media attention. And if these stats are not enough, Kiyan himself said in an interview on ‘Dunk’, that he would defeat his father if the two competed at the same age of 16. “Nah, I’m frying him… He wasn’t nice until he was 17, until he hit the growth,” he added. However, by 17 Melo was 6′” and Kiyan is now 6’4″ so this argument stands null. So, the high school journey of both Carmelo Anthony and Kiyan is quite similar.

But by the time Melo reached the big league, his height had reached 6’8″, so Kiyan will need at least one more growth spurt. And as far as the college career is concerned, the 17-year-old has already received multiple offers. Though he has only visited Florida State Seminoles and Syracuse Orange so far. And if the reports are to be believed, he may as well follow in his father’s footsteps to Syracuse.

Stay tuned for more such updates. And to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.