'I'm Healthy': Magic's Wendell Carter Jr.'s Physical Journey Yields Mental Relief

Wendell Carter Jr. isn't shy about the health issues that have featured throughout his career. But in recovering from offseason surgery, a mental journey has yielded relief as his seventh NBA season approaches, where he looks to make his injury history just that – history.

Apr 12, 2024; Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. (34) dunks the ball against the Philadelphia 76ers during the first quarter at Wells Fargo Center. / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

SANFORD, Fla. –– Wendell Carter Jr., the soon-to-be seventh-year center for the Orlando Magic, knows health issues have been a thorn in the side of his career.

“That’s always been the stigma for me,” Carter said Thursday morning at an event for his A Platform Squared Foundation. “I’ve pretty much gotten hurt every year I’ve been in the league.”

Last year was no different. Carter played just 55 of 82 games in 2023-24, meaning for his career, he’s played in 315 of the 465 available regular season contests (67.7%). And although Carter appeared in all seven of the Magic’s playoff games against Cleveland, Carter underwent surgery on his left non-shooting hand as a preventative measure, first reported by the Orlando Sentinel and later confirmed by the team – the same hand he’d had operated on after a fracture early in the year caused him to miss 20 games and a month and a half of the year.

But with the new year approaching on the horizon, Carter has a new status for how his body is feeling, assuring his hand injury is behind him: amazing and relieved.

“I’m healthy,” Carter said. “That’s probably the biggest thing that I was focused on this summer, and yeah, I’m just ready to kind of get this thing going.

"We're good. Confident, happy, no stress and I'm feeling good."

Apr 3, 2024; Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. (34) looks on against the New Orleans Pelicans during the first half at Smoothie King Center. / Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

The 25-year-old is fresh off his third complete season as Orlando’s starting five, in which he averaged 11.0 points on 6.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists. His workload saw a bit of a dropoff in direct correlation to the rising stardom of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner’s increase in the frontcourt, but Carter still maintained or improved upon nearly all of his efficiency metrics regardless of what side of the floor he was on.

At 6-10 and 270 pounds, he’s a solid young center who fits into Orlando’s timeline going forward. For what his contract is valued at, now entering the third season of his 4-year, $50-million rookie extension signed with Orlando and on descending value, the impact Carter provides at his pricetag puts him in the conversation of best bargains around the Association.

Carter was among the main pieces received in the Nikola Vucevic deal with Chicago, and Orlando has continued to invest in him as the big for this youthful core. They benefit heavily when he’s on the floor and healthy.

Mentally, Carter is aware of his impact as well. That’s what made this summer so important, and why there’s such excitement for him to potentially make his injury history a thing of the past, for good.

He’s not taking shortcuts. Rather, he found solace in getting to the root of the issue and facing it head-on. 

“Going into this summer, I think it was more of a mental thing than anything,” Carter said. “Understanding who I am, taking a deeper dive into Wendell Carter. The belief system, the understanding of how good of a basketball player I really am when I’m healthy. 

“And then, the physical aspect of it, doing all the proper things. Not taking any days off, understanding that I have to give myself the best opportunity to be healthy this year, and that’s doing all the little things every single day and not skipping any days.”

As the summer whittles away ever so slightly and training camp approaches, the ramp-up soon comes. Before long, Carter will be well-embedded in his seventh professional season – the one he hopes is his healthiest. If things shake out fortunately for him and his teammates, it could also be his most successful.

The winning formula required to create that almost certainly factors in a clean bill of health for Carter.

“Get in phenomenal shape,” Carter said of his focus over the coming days. “Be one of those guys that doesn’t get tired throughout games. Just continue to work on my mind, my body, my spirit – keeping everything at an all-time high going into the season.”

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