Vince Carter is not yet done in the NBA. He also does not seem to have winning an NBA championship as a top priority this late in his basketball career.

The 41-year-old shooting guard recently inked a one-year deal worth $2.39 million with the Atlanta Hawks, a team that is a long shot to make it to the playoffs next season, let alone win an NBA title. As a free agent earlier this summer, Carter could have decided to join a title contender.

Vince Carter could have joined, say, the Golden State Warriors, the favorite to take home the Larry O’Brien Trophy next season, thus giving him a strong chance to retire and ride into the sunset as an NBA champion.

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Carter’s desire to win a title, however, is just not strong enough for him to take an easier way out of the ring-less club. He would rather endure playing for a mediocre team fully aware that it would take something short of a miracle for that squad to win a championship than latch on with an elite team, per Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“It just feels right for me,” Carter said Thursday of not signing with a team just to win a title. “…. I probably could have done that anywhere. I still want to play the game. Whatever minutes are there, I want. I enjoy teaching. I’ll do that for any team. That’s not a question. It’s just who I am. I come in from an era where that’s not how it was so that’s still instilled in me. I don’t have any problem with how it’s done now. It’s just not for me.”

Although Carter’s famed vertical leap and athleticism have both faded significantly with age, the veteran swingman’s pride is still very much intact.