Syracuse, N.Y. — Incoming Syracuse Orange men’s basketball freshman Kiyan Anthony appeared on the new cover of SLAM Magazine with his father Carmelo.
The latest edition of the basketball outlet shows Kiyan and Carmelo in their college jerseys. The cover reads “Blood Orange”, representing family ties the father and son now share with Syracuse.
Carmelo was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame over the weekend. Kiyan placed the orange Hall of Fame jacket on his father during the ceremony and wrote a heartfelt message to Carmelo for The Players Tribune.
As the door shuts on Carmelo’s Hall of Fame basketball career, Kiyan takes the next step in the same spot his father did 22 years ago.
Kiyan Anthony, a four-star prospect and the top-ranked New York high school basketball player last season, helped Syracuse coach Adrian Autry score his best recruiting class since taking over for Jim Boeheim following the 2022-23 season.
“I wanna be known for the turnaround (at Syracuse),” Kiyan said to his father during a SLAM video. “The past three years, I ain’t gonna lie, we’ve been mediocre. We were super mediocre.”
In the video, Carmelo interjected, saying the Orange has been “a—” over the past few seasons. The Orange was 14-19 last season and hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since the 2020-21 season.
Even if it doesn’t culminate with a national championship at the end of this season, Kiyan wants people to remember his freshman year as the season that gave the program promise for the future.
This wasn’t Kiyan’s first time on the cover of SLAM; that came when he was 13 years old in 2020.
Carmelo and Kiyan appeared on the cover of SLAM together months after the death of George Floyd, in an edition that centered on the racial injustices in the United States.
The latest edition of SLAM marks the seventh time Anthony has appeared on the cover of the magazine.
Carmelo hasn’t attended a Syracuse game since the end of 2023, when the school honored the 2003 national championship team. Carmelo should be at plenty of games this season with his son playing for the Orange.
“This is the moment where I really want to just enjoy going to the games,” Carmelo said, via SLAM. “I’ve never been to Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke). As a fan and as a father, now I get a chance to have these experiences going to the Dean Smith Center (North Carolina) and Cameron Indoor, and as a supporter of college basketball, and understanding what this is about. And so I get a chance to live through Kiyan.”
The Orange open the 2025-26 season on Nov. 3 in the JMA Wireless Dome against Binghamton.
Syracuse plays a preseason exhibition against Buffalo on Oct. 25 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
You can find tickets to both matchups, along with the rest of the Orange’s games on SeatGeek.
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