‘Like father like son‘, the phrase echoes through the halls of basketball legacy as Kiyan Anthony navigates his ship in the sport that made his father Carmelo Anthony a household name. The younger Anthony has already shown his skills at Peach Jam, SLAM Summer Classic, and Rod Wave this summer, which has drawn comparisons to his father’s silky-smooth offensive game, and the 17-year-old even rocks the same jersey number 7 that Melo made famous. But when it comes to naming his shooting inspirations, the 16-year-old prospect is charting an unexpected course.

In a recent interview with ‘Overtime‘, the 17-year-old revealed his list of top shooters and surprisingly, neither his father, who is a scoring virtuoso with 28,289 NBA points nor his longtime idol Paul George, made it to the top three of the list. “Steph, Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, my pops, Clay,” listed Kiyan in the video.

Kiyan’s choice of Stephen Curry as his premier shooter isn’t without merits. Curry’s resume speaks volumes for his offensive capabilities. He is the NBA’s All-Time three-point leader with 3,747  threes, a career 42.8% shooter from beyond the arc, and the only player with 400+ deep shots in a season. How the Warriors’ star has used his efficiency in tandem with volume to do what no one thought possible! His quick-trigger release, sharp footwork on relocations, and creativity with dribble combinations aimed at creating extra space have brought his name to the attention of the next level of basketball talent. Last season, the Warriors’ point guard averaged 26.4 PPG and 5.1 APG which is quite a good stat line in case of a shooter.

However, it is particularly surprising how Paul George, a player Kiyan has often named as one of his modern basketball role models, is missing from his list. Last season, George averaged 22 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 5.3 assists on 61% true-shooting, which includes 41% from three-point range on 7.9 attempts per game. Also, his combination of smooth shooting and two-way excellence has been a blueprint for Kiyan’s development, so PG-13 missing from the list has confused many of Kiyan’s followers. 

As the

17-year-old gets ready to show his basketball excellence this fall in his new college, which is yet to be decided, it can be speculated that his game will undoubtedly incorporate elements from various influences which include his father’s footwork, George’s two-way excellence, and perhaps Curry’s shooting range. But what did the young shooting guard say about his old idol previously?

When Kiyan Anthony publicly idolized Paul George

As mentioned earlier, Kiyan is making waves in the basketball world by following his father’s footsteps. Even if Carmelo’s career was one for the ages, Kiyan has his own aspirations. Instead of modeling his game directly after his father, Kiyan has set his sights on another former teammate of Carmelo’s: Paul George.

During an interview with Brandon Scoop B Robinson, the 17-year-old revealed how he idolized PG. “I just think that the fluency he plays with and the smoothness that he has to his game, it’s like, it’s super like elegant when he plays and people like that in a way that he could get to a bucket whenever. That’s what people like,” expressed Kiyan during the interview. However, not only this, but during an interview with his mom in an episode of ‘Complex’s GOAT Talk‘ Kiyan had put George at the top of his GOAT list.

The way the former Los Angeles Clippers small forward had influenced the kid was clearly visible when during an episode of ‘7pm in Brooklyn‘, George had advised Kiyan to learn different playing styles by looking at game clips of former players. With the guidance of his father and the inspiration from players like Paul George and Stephen Curry, Kiyan is well on his way to achieving his basketball dreams.