Old Man, Still Amazing: A Changed Vince Carter Still Making Big Plays in Memphis

LOS ANGELES — Watch someone long enough, as Vince Carter is allowing us to watch him, and you see the same stuff, except from new perspectives.

It was without trepidation that Carter ferociously rammed both ball and arm deep into that net in the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Same sort of thing when he soared up and over 7’2″ Frederic Weis in the Olympics mere months later.

Sixteen years later, that fearlessness has evolved into something so serene it barely registers as the daredevil act it is.

Carter turns 40 in two months. He is playing his 19th NBA season. And he goes into competition now like a samurai without his sword—but unflinching.

“I’ve passed the point of, ‘Man, I used to dunk that.’ I’m past that,” Carter told Bleacher Report. “I know that’s not a part of my game. I mean, it’s a part of my game, but I’m just smart about it. Is the highlight of the dunk worth not being able to continue playing the game possibly?”

Most men who preen with confidence to attack at full strength would never risk following in their own footsteps and being made a fool.

Yet there was Carter, with kinesiology tape running down his sore left knee—his takeoff leg!—besides wraps on his left hand and left elbow, playing Wednesday night in L.A. against the Clippers not as the slashing guard he was, but as the viable stretch 4 power forward he has become in today’s game.

The oldest player in the NBA logged 27 minutes in the Memphis Grizzlies’ 111-107 victory. Carter wasn’t great, but he was awfully good—same as he was in the game before that, and the one before that, and the one before that. 

“I know who I am. I know what I bring to the table. I know I’m capable,” Carter said. “I’m not afraid to go out there and compete with these younger guys.”

Carter is scoring 10.5 points per game this season and could be the fifth player in NBA history to average double figures in points at the age of 40 (joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Robert Parish and John Stockton).

What has driven Carter to such long-lasting relevance is a fearless willingness to adapt. Part of that is derived from the lessons he learned as a child with a mother who extolled the benefits of a variety-filled life. 

A school teacher, she pushed her son to try different things—no matter if he wasn’t as good at them as basketball—to find balance, stir creativity and just be free. So he tried skateboarding, went to band camp, graduated high school with honors.

Yet the heart of his long-lasting fearlessness flows from what all fans wish motivates the athletes they follow.

“I still love playing,” Carter said.

The wonder of competition and teamwork and, yes, being in the spotlight are that cool that Carter does not …

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