Magic's Wendell Carter Jr Praises Annual Event for Underprivileged Youth

As the Orlando Magic continue to train for their 2026-27 season opener against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, they also exercised their philanthropy. 

On Monday, the Orlando Magic partnered with Chick-fil-A and Orange County Public Schools for the seventh annual Pick, Read & Roll event. The event is focused on assisting elementary schoolers from Title 1 OCPS. 

Monday's event drew approximately 3,100 fourth graders to promote the importance of reading. Afterward, center Wendell Carter Jr. spoke about the event, calling it amazing to witness the effect that the team has on the community. 

Carter, who is going into his sixth full season in a Magic uniform, described how an event like this, with the interaction of the players, can leave a lasting impression on the children. Carter said that the grind of an NBA season, in which teams are playing five games in seven nights at various points, can make it easy to get caught up in.

However, events like these, he said, remind him of the bigger picture. Carter also holds events of his own to benefit community youth, and he places great emphasis on education and its importance. 

It is a message that Carter says he has lived by his whole life and one that his mother instilled in him from a very young age. Now he has made it his mission to continue preaching that to the kids attending these events, and he always relishes the opportunity to do so. 

Carter also praised the Magic for their consistency in giving back to the community. Over the organization's 37-year history, it has granted nearly $33 million to nonprofits in the area through the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation. In Carter's view, what the team has given is second to none in the NBA.

Carter feels that, especially now that he has been a part of the community for many years, his individual philanthropic goals and those of the team are aligned. He said that the importance of education is something that is not just important for the city of Orlando, but for the Magic too, and he believes they do a good job of making it genuine and authentic. 

The team is entering an important season under first-year head coach Sean Sweeney, and given that Carter is playing a starting role, a lot of the responsibility is going to fall on him for the Magic to be successful. No matter what happens on the court, though, what Carter and the Magic are doing in the community cannot be overstated.