Kiyan Anthony may be one of the top high school basketball players, but he wants more. And no, being the No. 2 On3’s high school basketball NIL rankings and being Carmelo Anthony‘s is not enough. Already sitting at $622k NIL value, it seems Kiyan wants to boost things further. His latest statement suggests that. What did the 17-year-old say?

The official Instagram page of Nice Kicks shared Kiyan’s desire to be a part of the Jordan brand. “I want an NIL deal with Jordan cause my pops signed with Jordan. I feel like that will be fire,” the teenager stated. The post also featured a series of photos of Kiyan wearing different Jordan sneakers.

In fact, the 17-year-old has been donning Jordans from quite a young age. The post featured one of Kiyan’s childhood pictures wearing blue colorway sneakers, which were a gift from His Airness himself. “How amazing to be Kiyan and wake up to a surprise gift from the GOAT himself… Uncle MJ…” La La Anthony had captioned the post first sharing the blue colorway Jordans.

Interesting Fact: Kiyan Anthony ranks #80 in the NIL top 100 category on On3.

It would make sense for him to be rocking Jordans at a young age. After all, his father, Carmelo Anthony’s story with the brand, also started quite early. Notably, the Oak Hill Academy for which Melo played in his high school days had its basketball team sponsored by the Jordan brand.

During the 2003 season, the basketball player spent one year at Syracuse University, and he helped the team win the national championship in his Air Jordan XVIII.

But it seemed Melo was so hooked to it that he wore Jordans to Adidas summer camp as well. “In the history of Adidas — and there wasn’t no disrespect to Adidas — I’m the only person that ever wore Jordans to an Adidas camp,” Anthony said on one of his ‘7PM in Brooklyn’ podcasts. Now that’s something! But what’s the story behind Anthony’s connection to the Jordan brand?

How did Carmelo Anthony land Jordan brand’s first non-MJ signature sneaker?

Initially, Melo was directly signed to Nike until LeBron James and Dwyane Wade also came in. After landing a reported close to 7-year, $90 million deal, Bron stayed with Nike. On the other hand, Wade and Anthony moved to different brands.

“I remember there wasn’t a plan at that point in time, right? But LeBron was at Nike, and MJ stepped up and said, ‘Look, I’ll pay half, Nike pay half… I’ll take Melo, y’all got LeBron, Converse got D-Wade and [Chris] Bosh,'” Melo recalled on an episode of ‘Uninterrupted’.

Moreover, Melo’s then-agent Calvin Andres believed the Syracuse star would not have gotten this type of energy at Nike with Bron there.

Subsequently, Carmelo Anthony landed a reported $3.5 million per year deal for 6 years, and a signature sneaker. Although some sources like ‘Boardroom’ suggest the agreement could’ve been close to $40 million. In either case, Melo became the first athlete to have a non-MJ signature sneaker with Jordan brand with his Jordan Melo 1.5.

Anthony brought an edge, reliability, and street credibility to the brand, as Michael Jordan was much older in comparison to his target audience. Now Carmelo Anthony is already 40 and it could be a great time to pass the torch on to his son. After all, his partnership with the brand ended after 13 shoe collaborations.

It is to be seen if the brand that once saw immense investment potential in Melo has something similar for Kiyan. What do you think?

Stay tuned for more such updates. Join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.