Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. spoke with the media on Saturday before his team wraps up their European trip against the Memphis Grizzlies in London, England.
On how the experience has been: "I think it's been amazing. Just first stop in Germany, you know, kind of getting a feel for what's that's like being over there with the three Germans that we have on our team. It's a dope experience. Kind of seeing where they grew up at. How they, you know, taste this game of basketball over there. And then coming to London, I've been here before, but never here to play basketball. So I'm super excited to see how the fans turn out tomorrow. And at the end of the day, just to walk away with a dub, I mean, that'll make this trip very successful."
On the difficulties of stopping Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr.: "You know, those two guys are very gifted offensively. Those two guys are two of the best players in this league. So that's definitely always a tough, tough cover; tough guard. But that's the beauty of this game. Those are the kind of guys you want to go against night in and night out. As competitors, you just want to find ways to get stops. So, they're really good, though, both of them."
On the international growth of the NBA and basketball as a whole: "I think it's important. This is one of those sports that can be played anywhere, anytime. So I think it's very important just to get outside of the states and show, you know, whether that's kids, fans of the game, give them a lot of experience. I think that's very important. So I think trips like this are very important just to bring more awareness to the game. and just to grow the popularity of it."
On Anthony Black's dunk in Berlin: "It was insane. It was insane because I was out there on the court and I saw the dunk but after seeing it on the camera, seeing the playback, that was probably one of the best dunks I've seen in a very, very long time."
On the potential of a European NBA League: "I think it's unique. I'm very intrigued on how they'll make it work in terms of the travel, but I think that'd be really good for this league. In my opinion, I think the goal is to be in every every continent at some point, you know what I'm saying, that's playable. So I think that would be a really good thing. Like I said before, just expanding the brand of the game, giving more exposure to people who may not be able to see live NBA games. I think that would be very important. Yeah, that's a dope experience, a dope thing that could happen for sure."
The thoughts on London and England as a whole: "It's a very, very cool city. There are a lot of cities in America that kind of remind me of London. It helps that, you know, everybody speaks English. So it makes it a lot easier to get around. But yeah, I mean, the people here are good. The food is amazing. The architecture is amazing. So it was fun when I came out here last time. So I'm going to try to make the most of it while I'm here."
On what the team is doing after practice and the bonding experience: "Yeah, we're probably going to try and get some dinner. No, we've got an early game tomorrow. Not be out too, too late. Probably tomorrow, probably do a little bit more as a team. Just some good camaraderie for sure."
"Oh yeah, absolutely. That's what this game is about. Of course, you want to be out there playing and stuff like that. but these long 13-hour flights, coming over here, the late nights, trying to get over the jet lag, being up all night talking, going to dinner together. Those are the memories that we're going to really remember. It's always good when we have opportunities to do that."
On what winning close games has shown about the team: "I would say maturity. I think, especially as young of a team that we are, I think it can be very easy to let games slip away in those aspects. But then, on the flip side of that, looking back at some of those close games that we've won, it should have never came down to a last-second shot or go-ahead bucket when we're up most of the game. So, I think it's a two-sided fold to it. But at the end of the day, you know, it's a win or lose league."
On how hard it is to beat the same team twice: "Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, you look at playoff games; things like this. It's very difficult to beat the same team twice back-to-back. You know, they now have a better scouting report on you. They played against you, know your tendencies a little bit more, and it's just kind of the name of the game. It's kind of hard to really explain it. It's just how it is. It's hard to beat a team twice, for sure."