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Vince Carter continues to defy our expectations of his NBA twilight

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TORONTO -- Vince Carter is having a conversation just outside of the visiting locker room in Toronto after his Atlanta Hawks fell to the league-leading Raptors. Only a few feet away, a television in the bowels of Scotiabank Arena features a local news channel discussing Carter's final game in Toronto, the city where his career launched to worldwide fame two decades ago.

The TV is loud enough for Carter to hear it, but he continues to catch up with old friends without batting an eye in its direction, where broadcasters discuss his NBA mortality.

The dichotomy in that imagery is fitting, both for Carter's annual treks north of the border but also for his current place in the Association. The world around him assumes this is the end, and Raptors fans are losing count of how many of Carter's recent visits have been billed as (potentially) his last. All the while, the 41-year-old once dubbed "Half-Man, Half-Amazing" simply goes about his business.

For as much talk revolves around Carter's retirement, neither his play on the court nor his demeanor off it gives credence to these whispers, which grow louder every year.

"I'd like to come back and play," Carter told reporters earlier that morning in Toronto. "I try to imagine myself saying, 'This is it.' And I can't imagine it right now."

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Most of what's written about Carter these days focuses on the veteran mentor he's become to young players in the late stages of his Hall of Fame career, and that's fair. After all, there's a reason Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce insisted Trae Young and John Collins sit beside Carter in Atlanta's locker room this season. But what seems to be lost in the shuffle is that Vince Carter the basketball player still has something to offer.

Just ask Young, who told theScore that Carter often schools the sharpshooter and his young Hawks teammates in shooting competitions.

"One thing that doesn't go away is your ability to shoot, and Vince can really shoot the ball," said Young, who was 4 months old when Carter made his NBA debut. "He wins a lot of the shooting contests. He definitely rubs it in our faces that he can still shoot really well. Most of the time he beats us. We've got to try to turn that around."

Pierce believes his ability to get the job done on an NBA floor is as important for Carter's credibility with younger players as his star-studded resume.

"If a guy can't do it (anymore), sometimes (the credibility) gets lost, but Vince can still do it," Pierce told reporters before tipoff. "You've seen it. Twenty-one points (in a Dec. 29 win over Cleveland), he's hit clutch shots to win games, he's made unbelievable plays for us, and then every once in a while he gets a dunk, and the guys go crazy. It's refreshing that he's able to still play and contribute.

"We joked at brunch today, 'You should hop in the Slam Dunk contest this year and just go out on that note,' because he still can do a lot of it."

For the season, his 21st in the Association, Carter is averaging 7.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, and an assist on an effective field-goal percentage of 53.3. Those numbers won't blow anyone away, but Carter has held his own on both ends while playing 17 minutes per contest and suiting up for 37 of Atlanta's 40 games. He's also one of only eight qualified reserves shooting better than 37 percent on more than four 3-point attempts per game.

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"He's kind of turned into a spot-up three guy, and that's still really important in this game," Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said when asked if Carter was still a factor in opposing game plans. "When he was with Memphis (two years ago), a big part of the game plan was to make sure you pressed up into him and tried to make him play inside the 3-point line.

"That's always a valuable piece to any team."

The combination of that value, Carter's age, the fact he's never played in an NBA Finals game, and that he's on track to miss the postseason for a second straight year, would usually make an obvious trade or buyout candidate for the league's contenders. But just like retirement talk, Carter will have none of it right now, cutting off a question about whether a midseason move would interest him before it can even fully be asked.

"We still have a chance (to make the playoffs)," Carter said matter-of-factly about a Hawks team that is seven games back of eighth-place after their latest loss. "Skipped over that part, huh?

"I'm happy where I am. I'm happy doing what I'm doing. I'm happy getting the opportunity to go out there and play, to show the guys how to play and how to be pros. I'm happy. If I wasn't happy, then I would deal with the situation. This was an opportunity that I wanted to take. I've said it time and time again. I want to play, and I want to help young guys by showing them visually, not just verbally. That's just how I approach it."

Carter turns 42 on Jan. 26. If he returns for a 22nd season next year, he'll be the first in NBA history to do so. Until then, the whispers of retirement will continue, the assumption that a contender scoops him up will follow, and a year from now, Carter will probably be on a young team somewhere, outshooting them on the court and mentoring them off it.

There are talking heads predicting Carter's next move, making assumptions based on the logical patterns of previous middle-aged veterans. Just like the scene in that Toronto hallway Tuesday night, Carter either doesn't hear them, or he just doesn't care what they have to say.

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