Trainer Chris Brickley shared a video sometime in late May 2026 that attracted college basketball fans’ attention more than freshman highlight reels ever could. It wasn’t a stepback three or a crossover. Kiyan Anthony appeared to be considerably larger—wider across the chest, thicker through the shoulders, and noticeably heavier without slowing him down on the court.
Anthony weighed 172 pounds a year ago, according to Brickley’s straightforward calculations. He was currently seated at 195. For a guard starting his sophomore year at Syracuse, gaining 23 pounds in a single offseason—nearly all of it muscle—is the kind of physical leap that can completely change a player’s career path.
Although Anthony’s rookie campaign wasn’t particularly awful, it wasn’t the breakout performance that his jersey’s name might have suggested. Before the team’s wider problems brought everything down, he averaged 8.0 points in roughly 19 minutes per game, showing flashes of brilliance in brief bursts (17.3 points per game during his first three appearances).
Syracuse struggled to a 15-17 record, finishing just 6-12 in the ACC, and no player on that team survived the defeat. Anthony’s raw skill was never questioned, but it seems that when ACC upperclassmen leaned into him on drives and post-ups, his 172-pound frame caused him to absorb rather than deliver punishment. He became weary of the contact. He missed the Orange’s final two games of the season due to knee issues, including their loss to SMU in the ACC tournament.
As it happens, that knee injury served as the impetus for an entirely reorganized offseason. In a July interview with Syracuse.com, Anthony disclosed that he had been battling ongoing knee problems during his freshman year, and the time off made him reconsider his training regimen. He turned sharply toward the weight room at the Carmelo K.
Anthony Basketball Center, which is naturally named after his father, rather than just running drills and making hundreds of jumpers. During these sessions, the older Carmelo, a ten-time All-Star who once assisted Syracuse in winning its lone national championship in 2003, has been working alongside his son. Kiyan grinding thru elevators in a building named after his father, carrying both the genetic gift and the unrealistic expectation that goes along with it, has an almost cinematic quality.
The change in diet was equally dramatic. For months, Anthony increased his daily intake of calories and protein while completely giving up fast food and drinking only water. The discipline needed for a 19-year-old to maintain that kind of regimen thru an entire offseason shouldn’t be undervalued, but these aren’t revolutionary nutritional discoveries—any sports dietitian would recommend essentially the same approach.
On a Tuesday nite, the majority of college sophomores aren’t picking grilled chicken over drive-throughs. Kiyan’s work has been concentrated on using angles, absorbing contact more effectively, and retaining the lateral quickness that made him a four-star recruit out of Long Island Lutheran despite the additional bulk, according to Brickley, who also trained Carmelo Anthony in the latter stages of his NBA career.
Whether gaining 23 pounds will result in a successful sophomore campaign is still up for debate. Gaining weight by itself won’t solve the mental strain of an extended ACC season, shot selection, or defensive positioning. However, the physical basis has truly changed. Anthony is no longer a wiry freshman who gets shoved around, weighing between 195 and 198 pounds on a 6-5 frame. His build is more akin to that of a player who can hold his ground defensively against larger guards, finish thru contact, and absorb bumps on drives to the basket.
Additionally, a new coaching dynamic needs to be taken into account. Carmelo Anthony’s backcourt partner during that 2003 championship run, Gerry McNamara, was hired by Syracuse to guide the program into its next phase.
In ways that are difficult to measure from the outside, Kiyan’s development may benefit from the personal bond between McNamara and the Anthony family, which adds a layer of continuity and trust. McNamara may be in a unique position to coach Kiyan without the burden of outside pressure because he is familiar with both the Syracuse system and the significance of the Anthony name.
From a distance, it seems like this particular offseason—the knee rehabilitation, the weight room commitment, the dietary change, the father-son training footage—matters more than any one game in the upcoming season. College basketball distinguishes between recruits who arrived on potential and those who create something lasting during their sophomore years. The muscle has been added by Kiyan Anthony. Whether everything else catches up is now the question.
