In the middle of my work day Shams Charania gave me some of the best news I could have received: Jevon Carter is employed again. If you asked any of my friends, mutuals, or followers online they could probably tell you that I was VERY cross at the Chicago Bulls for abandoning my baby boy. Thankfully the Orlando Magic have some common sense and signed Carter for the remainder of the season to bolster their guard room, especially after trading Tyus Jones at the deadline.
Now as outlandish as I would like to be about the situation I unfortunately live in reality. Jevon is not going to be a starter on this team, he’s not going to be the 6th man, and he may not even get a TON of PT in Orlando. What I do know, however, is that he is a perfect signing for this team and how they would like to play basketball. At the time of writing the Magic are smackdab in the middle of the league for defensive rating; there are a lot of factors that go into that, mostly health, but I’d have to believe that the team would like to be better defensively based on who they currently employ.
When your roster consists of guys who are “known defenders” like Jalen Suggs, Jonathan Isaac, and Goga Bitadze it seems antithetical to be a ho-hum defensive team, and while I know that Jevon couldn’t single handedly make this team a top 5 defense, I think that he could help re-establish a defensive identity if given the opportunity.
An argument that I will make for Jevon that I probably wouldn’t make for many other basketball players is this: just because he didn’t get any real playing time in Chicago doesn’t mean that he’s a bad player. What it also doesn’t mean is that he would have lost a step from his best season in Milwaukee. It’s precisely because he didn’t get any burn that I think he’s ready to go out each night and perform. He’s effectively been put on ice for two and a half years and, from what I know about Jevon, he’s ready to prove that whole Bulls organization wrong.
There is one game in particular that I believe encapsulates everything any potential Magic fan reading this needs to know about Jevon and we have to go back to November 9th 2022 in a game against the OKC Thunder. I understand that the game was a while ago, but again, I think he’s pissed that he’s been iced out for almost three years and that we’ll see this kind of tenacity in him soon.
This isn’t the Thunder team we would come to know, but at the time the Bucks didn’t have anyone available: Giannis, Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, and Brook Lopez were all sitting for this game so Jevon had the ultimate green light. Carter finished the game with 36 points, 12 assists, and 1 steal. On a night where no one expected him to perform he came in with a “Stay Ready” attitude and made a future MVP’s night difficult in the clutch as seen here:
He can perform in an expanded role, and in an optimized roll (especially for this team) I think we could see a similar year to what he had in 2022-2023 for the Bucks. Jevon came off the bench and scored 8 points a night, added 1.2 stocks per game, and shot 42% from deep on 4 attempts a game for Milwaukee.
There are a lot of advanced stats that I could throw at you but just believe me, the guy who has now written multiple articles about Jevon Carter, that all you need to do is watch the guy play. He’s a great guy to have in the locker room, he’s a defensive menace, he’s a great catch and shoot player, and he’s been a league average shooter or better his whole career including 5 seasons shooting above 37% from deep. His biggest asset of all is that “Stay Ready” mentality I talked about earlier; whether he plays 38 minutes a game all year or he plays every 5 games he is always prepared for the moment.
I’m not positive that Orlando is Jevon’s forever home but what I do know is that he can help this team in the two specific areas where they struggle: defense and 3-point shooting. To get a 3-and-D guard at this stage of the year is not normal, and to get one that will seamlessly fit into your team’s system and culture is even more rare than that.
To any Magic fans who stumbled across this piece, please take care of my boy. AT THE VERY LEAST, let this man cook for the last 30 games of the year so he can secure a contract this summer. That’s all I ask. In the mean time, play the song.
Round The Game 
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