It’s official. Kiyan is going Orange. Two decades after Carmelo Anthony led Syracuse to the NCAA championship, his son has committed to the school. It was through much media scrutiny on the four-star guard about which school he’d pick. Syracuse was the first school to make Anthony an offer, and where he visited with both his parents first. Almost everyone on the outside predicted Kiyan Anthony’s choice because of his dad’s past. In comes La La Anthony to set the record straight.

The 17-year-old made this decision official on his dad’s podcast, 7pm in Brooklyn, with his mom on the couch too. Very quickly, the exes proved there’s no bitterness between them, as some online would like to speculate. One such moment was when La La confirmed Melo didn’t influence Kiyan’s decision.

In case there are any upset fans of the Trojans and Tigers claiming Melo pressured Kiyan to pick Syracuse, La La clarified, “I think it’s important to say like Kiyan really made this decision. I mean, I’m sure everyone just assumes that Mel put the pressure on him or Mel told him he had to do this,” she said.

She’s not only reaffirming that Kiyan made his own decision but also that Melo and herself didn’t push him in a certain direction. She did reveal to what extent Melo was involved. “Mel just gave him input on all the schools. It wasn’t more on Syracuse, less… he just gave input and we stepped back and allowed him to make a decision and told him whatever he decided we would support.”

She’d reiterate, “Contrary to what people probably think, there was zero pressure from his dad to go to Syracuse.” La La and Melo are happy that their son will stay closer to home in New York. But they kept that opinion to themselves until Kiyan confirmed his choice. The BMF star has stated many times before that they aren’t pressuring Kiyan nor did she reveal if they were hoping he’d pick a certain school.

La La and Carmelo Anthony hype each other

There was a lot of noise recently about La La choosing to keep her ex’s last name since their divorce in 2021. Contrary to the speculation, there is no tension between Carmelo Anthony and La La. As soon as she arrived on the podcast, they made jokes that people would make up rumors if they didn’t hug.

But they’re a united co-parenting unit. Melo said it was straight “facts” that Kiyan wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for La La. While the entire family celebrated Kiyan’s Syracuse commitment later, La La even shared a fun meme of a young Melo in his Orange jersey at his NCAA championship holding an edited newspaper of his son committing to the same school.

The duo is definitely patting each other on the back after Kiyan’s decision. They’re ecstatic about the outcome, anyway.