Vince Carter is playing brilliantly at age 39, which makes sense

The crazy part is that Vince Carter is supposed to be doing this. Even at this age.

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It was in him all along, in ways that were so maddening to those that watched him float for too long and at too many crucial times. The idea that Carter, the 39-year old former All-Star and Memphis Grizzlies role player, should be surprising anyone with his play this season or last seems a little off. Had you explained his current levels of production and style of play to anyone that was obsessively documenting him around the fin de siècle, they would completely understand. Don’t tell that person about Trump, though.

Carter is averaging 10.5 points and 4.1 rebounds in 27 minutes a night for the Grizzlies, putting up an average Player Efficiency Rating that approximates what he contributed in 2010-11 as a member of the Orlando Magic and the Phoenix Suns. The Grizzlies represent the sixth team Carter has worked for in his career, and they’re happy to have his all-around package of skills – which still involves cutting to the rim and finishing with authority at times – at the ready.

Too often, as an afterthought working on a prominent but often unpublicized team in a small’ish market, VC only tends to take to the headlines when nostalgia sets in. Like earlier this year, when the possibility of him working in the 2017 NBA Dunk Contest was bandied about. It’s not unnatural to only think in terms of timing with Carter, especially with contemporaries and fellow ‘GoldenEye’ enthusiasts Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen and Elton Brand having all called it quits just since April.

Vince, working in the final year of a three-year, $12 million deal signed by the Grizzlies back in 2014 that was as much of a bargain then as it was now, has made no such declarations about his future beyond 2016-17. Unlike fellow 1998 draftee Paul Pierce, who has already announced that this will be his final season.

No, Vince in the interim seems content to act as the tipping point in several Memphis wins and/or competitive contests.

He’s averaged 16 points, nearly four rebounds and 2.4 assists per game over his last five contests. Those assists ranks hardly tell the full tale when it comes to his work in keeping what has in the past been a rather sticky Memphis offense flowing through times of toil and trouble. He just sees things, especially in the pick and roll, that others don’t:

That’s 35-year old Zach Randolph, a man whose low-post game seemed to be suffering from progeria when he entered the league all the way back in 2001, talking. This is hardly some sprightly young thing, asking Old Vince for advice on the way back to not knowing what he’s doing (yet having the stamina to do it all night). No, that’s “you were once a teammate of Scottie Pippen’s, so we’re moving you to the bench”-Zach Randolph.

Two of the contests in that five-game outing included 20-point, 5-rebound offerings that made Vince Carter only one of three bench players in NBA history to contribute those numbers over the age of 39: Patrick Ewing and Michael Jordan (twice) were the only two others.

Zach, as he thankfully does, went on:

Some of this wasn’t always here, especially in the wake of a right ankle surgery that left his first couple of seasons in Memphis looking rather drafty at times. The frustrating part is that it took so long in his career to get here. And, for a veteran that takes an Uber to games earlier than the team buses because he needs longer to warm up, that it takes so damn long to get going:

For those of us disappointed at the times that Carter fell short with a should-be championship contender from Orlando in 2010, it’s OK to cloud the old man’s party with a hint of resentment. It must be especially tough for those that back the Toronto Raptors, those that saw Carter gift away plays and games in 2004-05 while moping that and other seasons, prior to a trade that sent him to New Jersey where he, somehow, found it in him to start playing MVP-level basketball.

Age does not take away these pangs nor memories both good and bad. The cheer that comes from watching Vince Carter act as a triple-threat coach on the floor in the two-man game is at times mitigated by the knowledge and recollection that this savvy was around (and often utilized) in spades during Carter’s time with the Raptors, Nets and Magic. Carter wasn’t exactly recalcitrant, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t frustrate with his ability to be left behind the action.

The expectations are gone, even if the Grizzlies (6-5 and tied for the final playoff spot in the loaded West) decide to unload Carter on a contender that could use his wily ways. Carter isn’t exactly thriving as an unexpected force, teams are aware of his ability to make the perfect pass or save a play with his turnaround touch, but the elder statesman role suits him.

He’s been begging, since his days of begging himself out of those Dunk Contests and his self-imagined “just a dunker”-label that nobody actually affixed to him, to be recognized for as much going on a decade and a half. It’s unfortunate that the recognition will only come in spurts, projecting word-for-word with yet another synonym for “old” undermining the message, but you get the feeling Vince Carter has never been more comfortable in his own skin.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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