He will be honored during a Feb. 21 game against UC Santa Barbara at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
“It means everything,” Carter told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a telephone interview today. “I wasn’t expecting anything. I just wanted to put smiles on the faces of all the people in Hawaii and just play my heart out.”
At 6 feet, 1 inch, Carter sparked the ’Bows with his quarter-court speed, accurate passes and 45-inch vertical jump. Carter often soared over post defenders for alley-oop dunks.
In two UH seasons through March 1998, Carter helped the ’Bows amass a 42-17 record, including an upset of then-No. 2 Kansas in the championship game of the 1997 Rainbow Classic. Despite playing with a surgically repaired subluxed shoulder, he set the UH record with 212 assists during the 1997-98 season.
Carter played 12 NBA seasons, most notably four with the Miami Heat, and was on the coaching staffs of the Sacramento Kings, Heat and, through last spring, the Memphis Grizzlies. Memphis’ staff was released at the end of last season. But Carter is under contract through June 2027.
“First time I have time off for myself,” Carter said. “I have my own schedule,”
He has been helping to train his son Devin Carter, the 13th overall pick by the Kings in the 2024 NBA Draft.
In 2008, Carter donated $100,000 to the ’Bows as part of a scholarship endowment.
“That showed my appreciate for everything the university did for me,” Carter said. “Without the fans, my teammates and the coaches, I wouldn’t be in the position I am today. They brought the energy every night. I felt it was the right thing to do because somebody game me a chance to go back to school and get my GED.”
Carter dropped out of high school after his freshman year. With the help of a youth organization, he earned his GED, then attended Saddleback Community College for two years. After that, he played for the ’Bows.
UH coach Eran Ganot recommended retiring Carter’s UH jersey. UH general manage Patty Mills told Carter during a meeting in the pool area of Carter’s condominium in Miami last week.
Carter said he was “100% surprised.” He said Mills and five associates decorated the area with UH No. 23 jerseys. Mills brought a bottle of celebratory Champaign.
“I wasn’t expecting anything after college,” Carter said. “I just enjoyed playing the game. To be one of the two jerseys being retired in Hawaii history (Bob Nash’s No. 33 was the other) means everything to me. This is like my first accolade for all my hard work at any level.”
