How does one of the most popular NBA kids, ranked No. 1 in New York, miss McDonald’s All-American? That’s the question that not just Carmelo Anthony but many fans who have followed Kiyan’s basketball journey had in their minds. The official reason? Well, it was based on technicalities. But now we have former NBA star Iman Shumpert, who believes there could be foul play involved in Kiyan’s snub at McDonald’s All-American.

When a player jumps from averaging 10.3 PPG in high school to 19.6 at EYBL, it raises suspicions like those of Shumpert. Then there was also his top 100 basketball camp, where he averaged 28.5 points per game. It’s no surprise, then, that Shumpert suspects politics.

However, the official reason that multiple media outlets reported had to do with Kiyan’s back injury that he suffered during his high school’s season opener in November last year. The injury caused him to miss multiple games, and thus, he was declared ineligible for the McDonald’s All-American for failing to meet the criteria that require attendance in 50 games of the senior year.

Why the allegations of politics, then? Well, the suspicions come from the fact that McDonald’s All-American is sponsored by Adidas, while Kiyan is moving to a college that has been in agreement with Nike for over three decades. And it’s not as if these suspicions of bigger powers being involved in athletes’ selection have been raised for the first time.

The quiet battle between Nike and Adidas has long shaped high school basketball — from shoe circuits to elite camps to all-star selections. When a player like Kiyan, aligned with a Nike legacy program like Syracuse, misses out on an Adidas-sponsored showcase, it reopens a debate that’s been brewing for decades.

“If I want to play McDonald’s, I got to be Adidas. And that shouldn’t be a thought process at this age. Same thing with USA basketball… If you an Adidas guy, y’all are basically begging Nike… to put you on team…” Gilbert Arenas once said on his podcast. No wonder even Carmelo Anthony suspected politics behind his son not being selected.

Carmelo Anthony believes his son “really deserved” to be in the McDonald’s All-American

When you’re the son of a basketball legend like Carmelo Anthony, expectations are sky-high—but so is the support. And Carmelo? He’s not holding back. After the 2025 McDonald’s All-American roster dropped without his son Kiyan’s name on it, the 10-time NBA All-Star made his feelings clear.

Speaking on an episode of his 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, Melo didn’t sugarcoat his thoughts. In fact, he got right to the point, “Anthony family once again gets jerked,” he said. “I think he deserved to make it. No bias s**t. I think he really put the work in and really deserved to be a McDonald’s All-American.”

That kind of honesty hits differently when it’s coming from a former scoring champ. And he wasn’t just talking about stats. Carmelo pointed to the behind-the-scenes reality many athletes face. “The politics that you have to deal with today — the fact that I was a #1 player and I had all that, and I built that… You have to deal with some of that today.”

When both Carmelo Anthony and Iman Shumpert, two guys who know the system from the inside out, point to “politics” behind Kiyan’s exclusion, it’s not noise. It’s insight. The Adidas sponsorship, the Nike-aligned college commitment, and the eerie silence around a 28.5 PPG scorer being ignored – it all connects. And if these selections are really about branding over basketball, then the McDonald’s All-American tag just lost a little bit of its meaning.