A quick look at what Vince Carter of the Atlanta Hawks thinks about his upcoming final season in the NBA.
When the Atlanta Hawks re-signed Vince Carter to a one-year deal, cementing him as retiring as a member of the Hawks, there was plenty of rejoicing from this writer.
Carter is an NBA legend, and he opted to play for the Hawks rather than go ring-chasing with a team such as the Warriors or Bucks. Instead, Vince decided to return to Atlanta in order to help tutor the young players for one more year, including feted rookies De’Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish and Bruno Fernando.
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While Carter will surely play a fairly important role on the court as a key wing rotation player – even at age 42 and 43 – Carter is apparently not looking for to the “emotional roller coaster” of a farewell tour, seeing as he will have the longest career in NBA history by the time the season is over. Carter spoke to Jacob Feldman of Sports Illustrated about next season:
"“It’s going to be an emotional roller coaster—it really is. I know each day is going to be the last of something. Honestly, it’s going to be awful. I don’t even think I’ll have fun. I just want to get into the season.”"
While that doesn’t sound like someone who’s going to enjoy himself in his final year, at this point, Carter has experienced pretty much everything the NBA can throw at him. As a consummate professional, Carter will surely carry himself with the same grace and charm that has come to typify his late career.
Though Carter has ruled out a return to the dunk contest during the All-Star weekend, VC was still spry enough to throw multiple spicy dunks during games in the regular season – including the points that pushed him over 25,000 for his career.
No matter what, watching Vince in his final season is sure to bring back memories while creating new ones for Atlanta Hawks fans, and we’re glad we can be a part of it in 2019-20.