Mavs Ex Vince Carter Takes ESPN Job, Won't 'Go Stephen A. Smith Route'

Dallas Mavs Ex Vince Carter Takes An ESPN Analysts Job - And He Won't 'Go The Stephen A. Smith Route'

DALLAS - Vince Carter, the former Dallas Mavericks standout - and really, over the course of his lengthy 22-year NBA career a standout for a lot of teams - now has a plan to stand out as an NBA broadcaster on ESPN.

“I wouldn’t go (the) Stephen A. (Smith) route,” Carter said recently, forecasting what his TV style will be. "I want to explain the game where you are watching it and say: Ah, that makes sense.” 

Ah, that does make sense.

Carter, having retired from playing this year, is joining ESPN full time to become an NBA analyst, as first reported by Andrew Marchand of the New York Post.

Carter, 43, most recently playing with the Atlanta Hawks. The future Hall-of-Famer’s career in the league was spectacular from the start, with "Vinsanity'' becoming a front-page act first with the Toronto Raptors. He played for the Dallas Mavericks from 2011 to 2014.

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He joined the Mavs following their 2010-11 NBAchampionship season and along with his trademark dunks and his maturation as a leader, offered Dallas one of its few playoff highlights in the time spanning the title and this year's Luka Doncic-led NBA Playoffs run.

That highlight, of course ...

We don't yet know exactly where Carter will fit into ESPN’s NBA coverage. But we're not taking shots at all at Stephen A. Smith (nor was Vince, by the way, we don't think) when we say that an NBA analyst who brings 22 years of playing experience to the table, and who has spent the last few years training for a job like this, is in a world full of bombast ... quite welcome to take a different "route.''