OK, so we have some interesting comments coming from Wendell Carter Jr.’s mom. The full story written by NBC Sports Chicago’s Vincent Goodwill focuses on Carter’s journey to becoming the seventh overall pick in this year’s NBA draft selected by the Chicago Bulls. Yet, the biggest headline was from what Carter’s mom, Kylia, said about his time in Duke and her feelings about coach K.
First, the background.
Carter committed to Duke in 2016, and he was supposed to be the star of the team as a freshman for the 2017-18 season. That was until Marvin Bagley III reclassified and also committed to Duke in 2017. All of a sudden, Bagley took center stage and Carter was no longer going to be the focal point of Duke.
That hurt Carter’s draft stock because he obviously wasn’t the best player on one of the most recognizable teams in the country, but again not too much because he was still a top-10 pick. Regardless, Kylia still seems pretty pissed off at coach K for not letting the Carters know about Bagley’s plan before Wendell Carter Jr. signed on with Duke.
“My initial reaction, I was pissed,”
“And it wasn’t pissed because Marvin was coming. To be honest, I felt like that was information that was kept from us. It felt (shady), it felt like my baby was gonna get kicked to the curb. I felt like all of that.”
And she has not let it go and it doesn’t sound like she’ll let it go anytime soon because Kylia plans to have a little chat with coach K the next time she sees him.
As for the blessing in disguise, Kylia Carter has yet to give Krzyzewski her true feelings from promises that weren’t kept. But it’s coming.
“We have not had our conversation but we will. We almost went there with him when we did our exit interview,” Kylia Carter said. “But he’ll come around to a Bulls game and I’ll get the chance.”
Wendell Carter Jr.’s father said the following.
“I tell people ‘people make promises they can’t keep.’ It didn’t bother me,” Wendell Sr. said. “I was concerned because I felt like we were lied to. ‘Oh, Wendell’s gonna be the man’ and then the rug was pulled from under us.”
Here’s the thing, as much as I hate Duke and coach K, can anyone really fault him for trying to get the best players available to come play for him at Duke? He’s trying to win and let’s not act as if college athletics aren’t anything but shady. This is one of the least shadiest things that happen in the NCAA.
As far as Carter and the Bulls goes, hopefully this is used as motivation.
