Carter Bryant credits the defensive abilities that made him an NBA first-round draft pick by the San Antonio Spurs to something different than most pro basketball players.
He had an upbringing in the deaf community, and it altered his abilities on the court.
“If I’m guarding the ball and I have four other people behind me, you kind of have no idea what’s going on,” Bryant told The Athletic. “So being able to check out your peripherals, use your feet and just have a sense of natural feel for the game, it’s different. We take it for granted as players, and we don’t use our other senses as much, but we don’t have to.”
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Bryant is a grandchild of deaf adults, according to that story in The Athletic.
His household spoke American Sign Language (ASL), and the first word he signed was "ball."
On Saturday night, Bryant will get a different kind of setting, though. He's competing in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
It's an event that has lost its luster in recent years, and it's up to a guy like Bryant to prove that it's still an event worth caring about.
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If he does his job right, he'll be creating lots of noise from the stands.
Bryant didn't have the best start to his rookie season, and he admits that now.
“As much as something’s a joke, it’s the reality of the situation, too. They’re joking around with me to stop missing dunks, but I need to stop missing d--- dunks,” Bryant told The Athletic. “I can’t be a dunk contest champion if I miss dunks. So you take the good with the bad. You take the laughs that come with it.”
His plan on Saturday night is to make his dunks, good ones, and get lots of cheers. But without his family and the communities Bryant came from, he may not have been here in the first place.
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