The Oklahoma City Thunder are indebted to Carmelo Anthony’s son, Kiyan. The newly traded NBA player tells the New York Times that his son is the central reason for choosing the Midwest team.
Carmelo was technically still signed to the New York Knicks when his tween son presented the notion of him playing for the Thunder. “My son said he wanted me to play for O.K.C. even before O.K.C. was in the picture,” Carmelo reveals. The good news for Kiyan was that his dad was unknowingly on the chopping block with the New York Knicks.
“When I signed back with the Knicks, I wanted to be in New York and I believed in Phil [Jackson],” Carmelo explains. “Then last year it went to: I was being pushed out. There were things being said about me that I didn’t know where they were coming from. And I still had to go in that gym and play and practice and deal with the media, answer all those questions every day.”
Anthony signed a no-trade deal in 2014 that guaranteed him $125 million if he remained with the Knicks. All of the controversy and secrets, however, made free agent status more appealing to him even with the potential decrease in wages. Carmelo didn’t make a decision, though, before asking his son for advice.
“My son has a basketball mind,” Carmelo shares. “So I will always throw little topics at him. He was like, ‘Dad, where you getting traded to?’ I told him, ‘I don’t know, where do you think I should go?’ He said: ‘You really want me to give you my opinion? I think you should go to OKC.’ It worked out.” Indeed, it did.
Carmelo Anthony joins Russel Westbrook, Nick Collison, and others in working towards an NBA championship for their team this season. Kiyan is Carmelo’s only child with estranged wife, La La Anthony.
Photo: Getty Images
