“Melo and I strategically made the decision”: La La Anthony reveals the reason behind her and Carmelo Anthony naming their son Kiyan

Carmelo Anthony and his wife, La La, made a "strategic decision" when it came to naming their son, who is now a rising basketball star. During Friday's episode of the "7PM in Brooklyn" podcast, Carmelo and his ex-wife, La La, revealed why they named their son Kiyan.

The conversation came as La La and Carmelo revealed that they wanted their son to make his own name for himself, so that is why they did not reveal his entire name, which included the word "Carmelo." She added that should their son ever choose to play basketball, the name would have just added even more pressure on him, so they just called him Kiyan instead.

"I just always told him from the beginning, like you have to create your own lane," La La said. "You're not trying to recreate what your dad did, which also is funny because you know, Mel and I strategically made the decision not to name him Carmelo Anthony. That was something we sat and really talked about because we said if you ever played basketball, just the extra pressure of being named Carmelo Anthony." (17:41-17:58)

She then talked about Kiyan's real name, which is actually Kiyan Carmelo Anthony, and the added pressure of the name was why people often do not hear it in full.

"A lot of people don't know, but his name is Kiyan Carmelo Anthony," she added. "So we flipped it and Mel's name is Carmelo Kiyan Anthony. So we did a little twist there but we did that on purpose so he can form his own lane and be his own person and do things his way." (18:03-18:18 )

Kiyan Anthony is now following his dad's footsteps by going to Syracuse, something that his parents say was his own decision and they did not pressure him to make that choice.

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Carmelo Anthony and ex-wife La La did not want Kiyan to play football

Carmelo and La La were forward when saying that they gave Kiyan the freedom to choose his own path. They even allowed him to play other sports, as the four-star recruit used to play baseball when he was younger. However, there was one sport neither of his parents wanted him to play, with Carmelo noting in the podcast he did not want him to play football.

"One rule: no football," said Carmelo. (17:32-17:33)

La La agreed with her ex, though she admitted that she would have allowed Kiyan to play if he begged.