Devin Carter 2024 NBA Draft Profile
We are less than one month away from the start of the 2024 NBA Draft. Today, we are continuing our NBA Draft profile series with Providence guard Devin Carter, the son of former 13-year NBA veteran Anthony Carter. Let’s hop into it!
Height: 6’2.25″ (6’8.75″ wingspan, 8’2″ standing reach)
Weight: 193
Age: 22.3
Position: Guard
Carter was a top-90 player in the country coming out of Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., per 247Sports. A four-star recruit, he began his collegiate career at South Carolina, choosing the Gamecocks over VSU, Richmond, Georgia Tech, DePaul and College of Charleston, among others.
Carter played under head coach Frank Martin–a well-respected college coach–for just one before Martin was dismissed. He then transferred to Providence, where he thrived for two seasons under Ed Cooley and, specifically, Kim English. In two seasons with the Friars, Carter averaged 14.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.5 steals on 44.7 percent shooting and 33.8 percent from 3-point range.
He really took off as a junior, averaging a career-best 19.7 points, in addition to 8.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.8 steals and one block, absurd marks for a 6-foot-2 guard (without shoes). He also shot his career-best from 3-point range, knocking down 37.7 percent of his 6.8 long-range attempts per game.
Let’s dive into some of his strengths and weaknesses!
Strengths:
A lot of defense is a mindset–Carter has that bulldog mentality. Pair that with his superb length, and you have a player who will be able to defend both guard spots and some forwards at the next level.
He uses every bit of his 6-foot-9 wingspan defensively. To start with, he blocks shots at an elite rate for a guard. For players listed at 6-foot-3 or shorter, his 2.8 block rate was the second-best in the entire country last year (min. 750 minutes); Carter’s 3.4 block rate was the fifth-best the season prior, per Stathead.
He’s excellent at blocking shots from behind without fouling; Carter also leverages his core strength and verticality to block shots from the side while minimizing the separation created. In addition to his shot-blocking, he has exceptional closing speed in his shot contests–even if he doesn’t get a finger on the ball.
Carter is excellent in the passing lanes, providing the necessary help and generating myriad deflections. He’ll occasionally gamble off-ball, but it goes in his favor more often than not. I loved his foot speed and his hands at the point-of-attack, too.
Carter was also an elite rebounding guard and oftentimes positioned himself well around the glass to corral rebounds. A lot of this is partly due to his freakish vertical athleticism, too, which pops–figuratively and literally. Carter tied the combine best in both standing vertical (35″) and max vertical (42″).
He played above the rim plenty and was good finishing around the rim, where he converted on 69.6 percent of his attempts, per Barttorvik. Generating paint touches–regardless of the immediate results–is the most fashionable form of offense, and Carter did plenty of that throughout his collegiate career.
Weaknesses:
I mentioned above that Carter had his most efficient 3-point shooting season last year, but I do have concerns about how translatable his 3-point shot is to the next level.
He shot 37.7 percent on good volume and improved as a free-throw shooter toward the end of his career, but he does have a funky–and slow–release. It’s almost like a shotput from his right arm that barely gets above his head upon release. It went in plenty, but I do have questions about how efficient it will be on non-spot-up attempts against NBA-caliber defenders.
Carter didn’t have a very good in-between game either, converting on just 28.8 percent of his mid-range attempts, which speaks to my previous point. It’s hard for a 6-foot-3 guard with a slow and low release to be an effective pull-up jump shooter from inside-the-arc.
Carter was exceptional at getting to the paint, and it’s hard to go wrong with that. Though he oftentimes played at just one speed: Fast. He was on balance, but there still wasn’t much change of pace. I also think he can be a league-average playmaker, but sometimes made the right read a step too slow. To unleash his full scoring potential, he may need to fine-tune his playmaking more at the next level.
Projection: Lottery Pick
Carter is one of my favorite guard prospects in this class. If you tell him he can’t do something, he’s going to make it his life goal to prove you wrong. His mentality was top-notch and always showed up when it counted.
The lottery is always weird, but I would be pretty shocked if he fell out of that range. Teams I’d keep my eye on would be San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Utah and Miami (one pick outside of the lottery at No. 15), where his dad played for four years as an undrafted free agent.
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