Vince Carter is taking load management to a whole new level.
The 21-year veteran is sitting out Wednesday’s Atlanta Hawks game against the Philadelphia 76ers, the second night of a back-to-back for Atlanta after he started and played 28 minutes in Tuesday’s loss to San Antonio. But instead of taking the game in from the bench, Carter will broadcast the contest alongside the regular Hawks commentary team of Bob Rathbun and Dominique Wilkins.
Carter is no stranger to the media side of the NBA landscape. Per Hawks PR, he has provided analysis during games while with the Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings, and Dallas Mavericks. He has made appearances on Inside the NBA and The Jump, and also co-hosts the “Winging It” podcast with teammate Kent Bazemore and Annie Finberg.
This isn’t even the first time that Carter will be calling games. He performed that role during NBA Summer League in 2017 and also did color commentary during the 2018 Jr. NBA World Championship. His proximity to Turner Studios in Atlanta could help him switch to that career path after retiring from basketball.
As he has gracefully aged in his NBA career, Carter has become one of the more thoughtful and engaging interviews among players. His gentle ribbing of a reporter who suggested he might sit out the next game after playing four overtimes against the Bulls earlier this year is a personal favorite. It would be hard to call a locally-televised game between the Hawks and the Joel Embiid-less Sixers must-see TV, but Carter’s presence on the broadcast will likely make it so.
