Perhaps the most extraordinary part of basketball is its organic nature. The thousands of variations of styles, techniques, audacity, composure, and strategy swirl into the singularity that binds the game. Even with just ten players on the court at any given time, an indefinite number of things can happen, even within the same action repeated hundreds of times.
Is there a game that more deeply conveys humanity and personality without even a spoken word?
The range of outcomes determined by human decision-making is an art form in and of itself. Some find beauty in contemporary art, while others find it when there’s a miscommunication on defensive coverage and a team’s ability to scramble and problem-solve is pushed to the limit.
Few in and around the sport bring the gravitas that Andraya Carter brings daily to ESPN as an analyst and commentator in every capacity of basketball.
In a game so incredibly intricate and detailed, Carter sets the standard with her nuanced breakdowns of plays and ability to impart knowledge through a broadcast. Honest X’s & O’s in a digestible form, but with passion and excitement. You know, the kind, the exact blend of enthusiasm and wisdom that you recall with your favorite teachers.
“A lot of people talk to me about being in different spaces and how I’m able to do it, but for me, I think I’m able to do it because, in every space I’ve walked into, no one has asked me to be anything other than myself… My passions and the way I see the game is all the same,” says Carter.
At just 29, Carter has cemented herself as one of the foremost broadcasters in the game, and while her rise has been rapid, it’s been a journey for her to get to this point.
She was ESPN’s 21st-ranked player in the 2012 senior class and the top-ranked point guard recruit in the state of Georgia. Carter made an immediate impact for the Tennessee Volunteers, starting her first five games of her career before a shoulder injury cut her season short as a freshman. Carter made the SEC All-Freshman Team the following year after a medical redshirt exemption and continued a productive career with the Volunteers for the next two seasons while battling injuries.
Carter says she had shoulder surgery her freshman year, tore her ACL in her senior season of high school, and had a couple more procedures on the same knee. She also recalls tearing her meniscus at the beginning of her redshirt freshman season but playing through it torn through the season.
Playing on her knee the following season was all the more difficult, as the cartilage in her left knee was mostly gone, effectively playing bone on bone. She eventually retired from the game after her redshirt Junior season.
“When I looked ahead at my life, my pro career was going to be hobbled. Maybe I’d get lucky if I got on the right team, but I didn’t think I wanted to make a career out of being overseas or hopping from team to team, and that’s what it looked like it was going to be for me if I was being honest with myself,” says Carter.
Letting go of the game as an athlete was a difficult decision for Carter, but it’s one she’d make again.
Getting in the gym to work on her offensive game and skills while she was constantly recovering from injury was difficult. Playing and practicing through knee pain was uncomfortable.
Her struggles with injury taught her invaluable lessons that have paid dividends in her career in media. During her redshirt Sophom*ore season, Carter led the SEC in total steals and steals per game. The defense was a clearcut strength of Carter’s.
She was rangy, she had fantastic hand-eye coordination, she possessed phenomenal lateral quickness, and she was aggressive. Carter covered a remarkable amount of ground, evading and slithering around screens to send ball handlers back from where they came, putting on a clinic of defensive fortitude routinely.
I’d never seen Carter’s tape until I went down the rabbit hole in writing this, and man, she had it as a defender. Enjoy watching her defend current W players in the clips above!
“Pushing through and being uncomfortable is something I’ve always known I can do. Playing to my strengths is something I’ve always known I can do. Defense was my strength in college, and now honest analysis of the game and x’s and o’s… that’s my strength,” says Carter.
“Playing to your strengths while working on your weaknesses and pushing through being uncomfortable, that’s something my basketball career really taught me.”
In 2017, Carter was calling basketball games online for ESPN3. After exchanging emails with Pat Lowry, ESPN’s Vice President of Production, Carter had an in.
If she could make it out to the SEC Tournament, Lowry could make some time to meet. The only problem; she didn’t have a media pass to get in.
Maria Taylor, a friend, and mentor to Carter, came in clutch and gave Carter her credentials to get in and meet with Lowry. Carter spent her first night in Atlanta sleeping in her car before snagging a couch at a friend of a friend’s hotel room the next day.
A 5-minute meeting turned into an hour-long conversation between Carter and Lowry, and Lowry invited her to watch games together in the ESPN production truck the next day. Lowry peppered her with questions all day. What did Carter think of this player? How did that action work? What was it called?
That day, Lowry gave Carter an offer “Next season, I’ll give you two games on TV, and if you do well, maybe I’ll give you more,” says Carter.
“That season, two turned into 10, and 10 turned into more, and now here we are,” says Carter with a proud grin.
Carter’s meeting with Lowry foreshadowed her future as a color analyst. Collaboration with production teams led to her finding her groove in-game and during studio shows. One of her first producers started asking her what clips she wanted to be pulled, and the spark was fully lit.
“Once I had that dynamic, where I was gonna talk about what I’m the most passionate about, and that’s what relays the best on-screen anyway, it just started to flow from there,” says Carter.
When she first started getting the plays she asked for, she noticed her energy was higher. She came across more clearly and vibrantly. Carter’s found her niche as one of the best analysts in the sport simply by being herself and playing to her strengths.
She credits the people around her who helped her through working as a contractor and freelancer; The aforementioned Taylor helped Carter get a foot in the door. Carolyn Peck has long been in Carter’s corner, and the duo has incredible synergy on TV. Carter mentions Rebecca Lobo and Elle Duncan as others she’s thankful for.
She calls LaChina Robinson her “rock.”
Robinson helped her through arguably the most trying time in her media career last year. Juggling multiple jobs, including a full-time job as an Orange Theory fitness instructor, Carter was racking up hours driving, and her nightly sleep dwindled. She had no intentions of giving up, but the thought of quitting to only work at Orange Theory crossed her mind.
“There was a time, god had to be this last March, where I was just driving back and forth from Charlotte to Atlanta, because I had shows, I had games, but I also had to coach classes. I remember calling LaChina in tears, because I was so tired, you know how you just get so tired you just get emotional?
She said to me, someone told her, “the one who can be uncomfortable for the longest will be most successful.”
“She said that to me, and I was like ok, I just have to keep pushing and keep going. It wasn’t even 2 or 3 months later that I got a full-time contract,” says Carter
“I feel I am the conglomerate effort, knowledge, and wisdom of all of my mentors. I have had so much support on this crazy journey so far, it almost feels like it would be impossible to have come short,” follows up Carter.
In watching her now and the imprint she has on the game of basketball, it almost feels impossible to imagine the game without her. A recent member of The Athletic’s 40 under 40: Rising Stars in Women’s Basketball, Carter has stationed herself at the forefront of the game by being herself, bringing enthusiasm, and providing in-depth and honest analysis.
WNBA reporter Mark Schindler writes a column onWNBA.comthroughout the season and can be reached on Twitter at@MG_Schindler. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the WNBA or its clubs.
