By choosing to play for Syracuse, Kiyan is taking the spotlight head-on, playing for the program that kick-started his father Carmelo Anthony’s Hall of Fame career. Before practicing, he sees Carmelo’s name imprinted on SU’s facility. In the JMA Wireless Dome, Carmelo’s retired No. 15 will reign down from the rafters.

Still, Kiyan says he’s not chasing Carmelo’s legacy. He’s focusing on adding to it while building his own name.

Even through the Orange’s recent “down years,” Carmelo said he and Kiyan — a shooting guard and 247Sports’ No. 32 recruit in the 2025 class — stayed locked into the program. Now, in a pivotal season for SU as it looks to snap its longest March Madness drought in over five decades, Kiyan is tasked with helping restore the “Orange Standard” — encapsulated when Carmelo led Syracuse to its lone national championship in 2003.

“You talk about legacy, and you talk about family dynamics, you talk about passing things on down to your family, to your kids. And this is something that we passing, and we passing the baton to him,” Carmelo told The Daily Orange. “And now whatever he do with it, he do with it, and that’s on him.”