‘Vinsanity’ not quite ready to call it a career

ATLANTA Vince Carter can’t say his 21st NBA season will be his last. At least not yet.

Carter signed a one-year veteran minimum contract Friday with the rebuilding Atlanta Hawks, his eighth team, in what could be his final stop before starting a career in broadcasting.

It appears to be the right mix for Carter, the league’s oldest active player. He turns 42 in January and wants to be ready for a television job when his playing days end.

Atlanta, home to Turner Broadcasting and NBA TV, is the right place to be, but Carter isn’t quite ready to retire.

“I know playing this game that the media and the fans and people can be cruel,” he said with a grin. “It’s like, ‘You’re old and you’re playing against guys half your age. You shouldn’t be out here.’ But then for me that is my goal, to prove that I’m able to do that. And I put in a lot of work in mentally as well as physically just preparing myself.”

Carter says the once-dynamic dunker, a live highlight reel of a player known as “Vinsanity,” still lives inside him. It’s just different now that the former Toronto Raptors star been a reserve in stops the last six seasons with Dallas, Memphis and Sacramento.

“Yeah, I’m still the same person,” said Carter, the 1999 NBA Rookie of the Year and an eight-time allstar. “My approach is still the same. My work ethic, my ability to play the game is still the same. Obviously it’s limited. You just don’t get to see it as much, but it’s the same guy.”

He wanted to play for the Hawks because they offered a chance to earn extra minutes. Atlanta is likely to be among the league’s worst teams this season.

Carter isn’t the oldest player to ever play for the Hawks. Kevin Willis, Carter’s teammate in Toronto from 1998-2001, spent his first nine-plus seasons in Atlanta before returning at 42. The Hawks went 13-69 and had the NBA’s worst record.