Spurs pick Carter Bryant has signs of greatness
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José de Jesus Ortiz, Founder & Editor in Chief
- June 28, 2025
Carter Bryant inspires young deaf fans
SAN ANTONIO – As Carter Bryant headed back to his seat after his introductory press conference with the San Antonio Spurs, he noticed a little girl sitting on the floor a few feet away Saturday morning. The deaf child had been watching him closely.
She smiled gently after making eye contact with the 14th overall selection in the recent NBA Draft. Then she smiled widely and leaned back, practically recoiling in awe, when Bryant used American Sign Language to say hello.
The student from the Sunshine Cottage Deaf School felt seen. She clearly appreciated exchanging pleasantries with Bryant and his mother Sabrina Torres, who learned sign language as the daughter of two deaf parents.
Connecting with new fans
Once Dylan Harper, the second overall pick in the draft, was done with his introductory conference with local media, Bryant headed to a corner of the Victory Capital Performance Center to visit with his new friend and several of her classmates.
At one point, one child extended her right arm to point at Bryant. Then she raised her hands, made a fist, lifted both index fingers and rotated her hands in and out before bringing her hands close together quickly and pointing up.
“Where do I work?” Bryant asked while holding his hands at his side and flipping his wrists with his hands extended and palms pointing skyward.
“Right now,” Bryant said gently before looking at the parents wearing the Sunshine Cottage’s green T-shirts. Then he signed at them and asked for the correct way to say “Spurs” in sign language.
“I’ve seen two” ways to say Spurs in sign language, Bryant said.
A ‘super power’
Both ways are similar to the Texas Longhorns’ Hook ’em. In one, the horns, so to speak, are turned toward the chest. In the other way, Bryant made the horns with his right hand. Then he brought them down a few inches in front of his chest and touched his right thumb multiple times with his left index finger.
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“I think it’s really important to have representation, no matter whether it’s because you’re deaf, because you’re Latino, because you’re Black,” said Torres, a sign language interpreter. “All of that is so important.
“Society needs to be able to raise our children seeing everybody being able to do any of the things. So having that ability is a beautiful thing. Carter being able to be that representative for them is such a blessing.”
Bryant, 19, learned to communicate in sign language before he learned to speak, Torres told the children and their parents. Carter Bryant’s maternal grandparents Mike “Doc” Torres and Shelly Freed are deaf.
Athletic family
“I was so proud to be a part of the deaf community,” said Bryant, who was drafted out of the University of Arizona after his freshman year. “I was so proud that my grandparents were deaf.
“And I just loved every single piece of it. I never saw it as a disability. I never saw it as something that was restricting or a hard way of life. It was natural. It was beautiful to me. It was a superpower.”
According to family lore, “ball” is the first word that Carter Bryant learned to sign. The 6-foot-8 forward’s entire immediate family knows sign language.
Even his father D’Cean Bryant, who played college basketball at Long Beach State, learned sign language after meeting Sabrina. All three of their children are gifted athletes. Cydnee Bryant, the middle child, is a 6-foot-3 center rated the 37th best girls basketball prospect in the Class of 2026 by ESPN. Carsyn Bryant, a rising sophomore, is a high school volleyball standout.
D’Cean Bryant and Torres raised their children to be proud of their bi-racial roots, whether their African American paternal roots, Puerto Rican maternal roots or their place in the deaf community.
More than half of the San Antonio population has Latino roots. It wasn’t surprising when a local reporter asked Carter what it meant to him to represent Latinos.
Carter Bryant proudly represents
“I mean, it means everything,” he said. “I think for me, I’m just trying to represent everything as well as I can, whether that’s the Latino community, the deaf community, Riverside, Calif., whatever the case may be along with the African American community as well.
“So I think for myself, I’m just proud to be myself every day and just represent myself and my community, my culture at a national level.”
Although D’Cean Bryant wasn’t born into the deaf community, he has embraced it. He has nurtured it and supported it. D’Cean even coached the girls team at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside.
“I think when you get a kid like Carter on this stage with this organization it brings awareness to who they are and what they represent,” D’Cean Bryant said. “They’re a proud group. They take pride in who they are and what they do and how they do everything. It’s amazing.”
Amazing indeed. The smiles of the deaf children who visited with Carter on Saturday needed no words.
José de Jesus Ortiz
Founder & Editor in Chief
Award-winning writer José de Jesus Ortiz, a former lead sports columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has covered Major League Baseball since 1997 in Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, New York and Houston. He was the first Latino to serve as president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
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