Vince Carter is set to join the Bally Sports Florida team for a select number of Orlando Magic games as an analyst in the network’s pregame show. Carter, who played in the NBA for 22 seasons, was most recently an analyst for the Atlanta Hawks with Bally – then Fox Sports Southeast – and will find himself in the same role while breaking down games, and providing analysis for the Magic, coming full circle with the Magic’s last good run.
The Daytona Beach native is currently hosting his show entitled “The VC Show” as part of ESPN, and Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, regularly interviews former NBA players and dissects the current nature of the game. As a young player coming into an uncertain situation with the Toronto Raptors where the team was considering relocating, Carter was able to win over an entire city and put the Raptors on the proverbial “map” as a legitimate team. Carter’s cousin, another former NBA great, Tracy McGrady was drafted out of high school just a year prior, was struggling to find his way into lineups.
Of course, McGrady would be traded in the 2000-01 season to the Magic, where he developed into one of the NBA’s best players and gave the Magic team the superstar appeal they had been missing since Shaquille O’Neal left for the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996.
Carter was traded to the Magic following their 2nd NBA Finals bid, behind the Dwight Howard-powered team, in what has been labeled a “controversial trade” by some, as the Magic were expected to make another NBA Finals run, but that was cut short in the Eastern Conference Finals as they lost to the Boston Celtics. Playing in just 22 games for the Magic the following season, Carter would be traded to the Phoenix Suns in part of a huge six-player deal involving multiple teams in what would prove to be the end of their playoff window, and the Magic have been on the mend ever since.
For the young Magic team, having another former superstar player around the facility should boast well, even if the team only hears replays of Carter breaking down games during film sessions. The Magic have struggled to stay healthy over the last couple of years and even into the opening month of this season. If anyone knows about staying healthy, and longevity in the NBA, it’s Vinsanity.