Carmelo Anthony to his son Kiyan: “I have to tell you, they’re taking 60% of your money”

Carmelo Anthony revealed this week that he’d had to have a talk with his 17-year-old son, Kiyan. But this conversation was not ‘the talk’ that most parents have with their teenage children, this was about Kiyan’s million-dollar sponsorship deal and the financial repercussions that it brings.

Kiyan is a prodigious basketball prospect and received offers from a number of Division I college basketball programs. He opted to sign with Syracuse, where Carmelo won a national championship in 2003, and has signed a lucrative Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deal with the school.

Kiyan Anthony has an NIL valuation of $1.1 million and is already starting to reap the rewards of that deal. But his father has revealed that he is preparing his son for the realities of being a top earner.

Carmelo Anthony said recently: “I got to talk to you about taxes at 17 years old. I got to talk about how you budget at 17 years old, at 17 years old I was running around we ain’t know nothing about no budget.”

Kiyan Anthony ‘part of the 1%’

NIL deals are a relatively new introduction to the lucrative world of college sports, the first time that student athletes can be financially compensated for the huge audiences that they bring. However that does bring greater responsibilities for the athletes, who must now contend with the taxman for the first time.

The top earners, with NIL deals worth more than a million per year, find themselves in the highest tax bracket. Unless they’re conscious of their tax liability that might find themselves in trouble.

Carmelo recounted a conversation with Kiyan: “I told him the other day, I said, you in my tax bracket now. You 17 in my tax bracket… you part of the 1%. So now I can’t hide that information from you. I got to tell you, you’re getting 60% of your money taken. Don’t ask me where it’s at. I ain’t got it. You know what I mean?”

The Anthonys aren’t the only famous sporting family in this position. Last year Shedeur Sanders, son of Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders, bagged a huge NIL deal worth $5.1 million. He is only too aware of the responsibilities that this level of earnings brings.

“Understand taxes are real. You are going to have to pay taxes. You can have all the fun you want because you are going to have to get it out of your system, but know that taxes are not playing with you,” Shedeur said.

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