Wendell Carter Jr. badly wanted to play in the Rising Stars Challenge on the Friday night of All-Star weekend. Especially with All-Star weekend taking place in his ‘home’ city of Chicago.
But Carter is still recovering from a high ankle sprain suffered Jan. 6 in a loss to the Mavericks — an incident that tipped a devastating set of injury dominoes for the Bulls and has further derailed their season. Unable to play, Zion Williamson slotted onto Team USA’s roster as Carter’s replacement.
Still, Carter acknowledged that being selected to the team at all is a tremendous honor, and a marker of the growth of his game.