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There’s nothing quite like being drafted into the NBA. A decade’s worth of blood, sweat and tears has led to that surreal, life-affirming moment when one’s name is called on stage. But even in a place where one’s wildest dreams come true, rarely do the stars align as they did for then-18-year-old Carlton “Bub” Carrington.
Just minutes after being drafted 14th overall by the Portland Trail Blazers, Carrington was informed he would be traded to the Washington Wizards. He couldn’t believe it. He tells, thinking. “No way… Wait, what’s going on right now?” Because, for Carrington, repeating witches is about more than personal pride; he also echoes his home state.
Take a 40-minute drive northeast of Capital One Arena and you’ll find Carrington’s childhood roots in Baltimore, a city that exudes its gritty and competitive basketball culture. However, compared to the abundance of opportunities in cities like New York or Los Angeles, Baltimore has so many places to fill. “You’re trying to make that one team, you’re trying to go to that one school, trying to be in that one area,” Carrington says.
Blank, if you want to make it in Baltimore, you have to earn it. Carrington is no exception to the rule, and it’s not far-fetched to assume that this is where the battle-tested guard developed his pedal-to-the-metal tenacity. Just ask the person. “In some way, shape or form, (you) are a product of your environment,” Carrington says. “There has always been a season for me on the court. you have to kill that person before your eyes. Pictorial, of course.”
As Carrington says, it doesn’t matter if your opponent is someone you’ve never played before or someone you’ve been competing against for as long as you can remember, every ball game is a battle. For Bubb, his most formative memories came from those longtime rivalries. Those battles became his announcement to the city that he had the drive and game to back up his relentless playing regimen.
However, one battle stands above the rest.
When Bub first arrived at St. Francis Academy, one of the city’s top prospects, Jahnathan Lamothe, was there.
“He blew up big,” Carrington says. And for the rest of high school, whether it was the last minute of practice or the AAU period, the neglected Babb made it a point to earn his victories through his battles with Lamothe. “I wasn’t, like, talked to or anything… (so) he was on my list. He was on my and my dad’s list to go see him every day. (My father would say) wherever you see him, you must go to him.»
These are words you take lightly. Bub’s father, Carlton Carrington II, is a respected local AAU coach, and his insight into the sport has kept Bub one step ahead of his contemporaries. “You see the game from a different perspective, the coach’s perspective. A lot of kids see an hour from a coach’s point of view, no matter how long you practice … I see it every hour of the day,” he says.
That father-son, coach-player dynamic is unique. It’s a high-wire balancing act for both of them, and sometimes when the players are younger, those lines get blurred. “When I was little, I thought there was no switch,” Carrington recalls. But as Bub matured, he began to see the fruits of his labor as his understanding of the people around him began to crystallize. “I stopped trying to think I was smarter than him. He knows what he’s doing … (and) it’s always good to have someone who knows what they’re talking about.”
The culmination of all this is the player he is today. A 6-4 guard who is a wizard who gets up from mid-range and is a smooth operator out of the pick-and-roll; a player who, in striving to be the best player he can be for his team, embraces the minutiae and less glamorous aspects of basketball.
But, for all of Baltimore’s relentless competitive spirit, there’s also a cherished sense of community. Ask any Baltimore basketball player and they will tell you that everyone is trying to be nothing less than the best in the city. But when that once-in-a-lifetime player reaches the top, and their sky-high aspirations spread through college and beyond, the whole town revels in their success.
That pride only grew stronger with Carrington playing so close, and it’s only right for Bubba to give back to a community that shaped him as Washington’s point guard of the future. So while the NBA eagerly awaits Carrington’s first game, he’s wasted no time getting his philanthropic activism to life. He already participates in local back-to-school drives and annual Thanksgiving food drives, while also putting together community-oriented projects with teammates.
“I’m trying to be a voice. I try to be really active in the community,” says Bub. “I like to help people. I help people because I have been helped.”
Photos via Getty Images.
