{"id":115888,"date":"2025-01-03T15:47:16","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T20:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=115888"},"modified":"2025-01-03T15:47:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T20:47:16","slug":"devin-carter-available-to-make-season-debut-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/03\/devin-carter-available-to-make-season-debut-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings Lottery Pick Available To Make Season Debut Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

The rookie class from the 2024 NBA Draft wasn\u2019t expected to be one of the better ones in recent memory. While players such as Zach Edey<\/a>, Jared McCain<\/a> (prior to injury), Zaccharie Risacher<\/a>, Alex Sarr<\/a>, and Jaylen Wells<\/a> have had their moments, there haven\u2019t been any rookies that look like a surefire perennial All-Star. There have been two lottery picks that haven\u2019t played all season though. Coming off a torn ACL, 12th overall pick Nikola Topic<\/a> will miss the whole season<\/a>. The 13th overall pick, Devin Carter<\/a>, will finally be available to play on Friday night.<\/p>\n

The Sacramento Kings have certainly had a disappointing season. They already fired head coach Mike Brown<\/a> and have Doug Christie taking over on an interim basis. Can Devin Carter, ready to make his debut, help provide a spark to reviving their season?<\/p>\n

Kings Lottery Pick Available To Make Season Debut Friday<\/h2>\n

Devin Carter Is Set To Make His NBA Debut On Friday<\/h3>\n

Devin Carter, the son of 13-year NBA veteran Anthony Carter<\/a>, was selected 13th overall in the 2024 NBA Draft by Sacramento. The 22-year-old played three seasons collegiately. The first was with the South Carolina Gamecocks, before he transferred and played two years with the Providence Friars.<\/p>\n

A 6-foot-2 point guard, Carter excelled in his last year with Providence in 2023-24. In 33 outings, he posted averages of 19.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 3.6 assists. He averaged just shy of a block per game (32 total) and also averaged 1.8 steals. Carter\u2019s rebounding and shot-blocking prowess were incredible for a man of his stature. His superb season led to his being named the Big East Player of the Year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the Kings already have star point guard De\u2019Aaron Fox<\/a> on their roster, they likely would have found a way to fit Carter into their rotation. Unfortunately, Sacramento hasn\u2019t had the opportunity to do so. Prior to the Summer League kicking off, Carter sustained a torn labrum. The injury required surgery on his left shoulder, and an update was expected to be provided in about six months time.<\/p>\n

It has been just shy of that six-month timeframe. Carter was recently sent to the Stockton Kings of the G League to further rehab and ramp up for NBA action. He ended up playing two games for Stockton averaging stellar numbers of 23 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, 2.5 blocks, and 2.5 steals.<\/p>\n

Kings Have Not Performed Up To Expectations This Season<\/h3>\n

After acquiring DeMar DeRozan<\/a> via a sign-and-trade, the Kings were expected to be firmly in the playoff hunt this season. In 2022-23, they went 48-34, ending a 16-year drought without reaching the postseason. Last season, they went 46-36, but were unable to advance through the Play-In Tournament.<\/p>\n

As previously mentioned, things haven\u2019t gone smoothly for the Kings this season. A recent 0-5 homestand was the final straw as head coach Mike Brown was let go. While they have won two in a row, they still sit at 15-19, 12th place in the Western Conference. They are 2.5 games behind the 10th-place Golden State Warriors, who currently occupy the last Play-In Tournament position.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen how much of a role Carter will play in helping the Kings turn around their season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rookie class from the 2024 NBA Draft wasn\u2019t expected to be one of the better ones in recent memory. While players such as Zach Edey, Jared McCain (prior to injury), Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr, and Jaylen Wells have had their moments, there haven\u2019t been any rookies that look like a surefire perennial All-Star. There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5060,"featured_media":115902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,3,29],"tags":[49040,4494,1480],"class_list":["post-115888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","category-kings","tag-2024-nba-draft","tag-devin-carter","tag-providence-friars"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5060"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115888"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115903,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115888\/revisions\/115903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}