The world of basketball belonged to Vince Carter in 2000. He had enjoyed two fabulous seasons in the N.B.A., he had become one of the league's most popular players and he had wowed the world in the Olympics with a spectacular dunk, an astounding windmill slam in which he hurdled 7-foot-2 Fr?d?ric Weis of France on his way to the basket.

Carter led the gold-medal-winning Dream Team in scoring. The next season, he took the Toronto Raptors to the Eastern Conference semifinals, averaging 27.6 points a game.

But this week, with some of the N.B.A.'s best players gathered at John Jay College in Manhattan to prepare for the FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament, Carter has been an afterthought. Dozens of reporters and photographers have surrounded Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady and Karl Malone, hanging on their every syllable, while Carter conducts interviews for one or two reporters.

Carter, 26, is still viewed as a top player, but without question, some perceptions have changed.

"I don't really care," said Carter, who was added to the United States team only because Kobe Bryant recently had knee and shoulder operations. "I'm still on an N.B.A. team contributing and that's all that matters. All that little petty stuff - whether I'm top five, No. 1, No. 21 - I don't really get into that. That doesn't do anything for me because that's just a matter of people's opinion. They might not view me as one of the top 15 players in the league right now, but I'm here on the Olympic team. So I just stick to my motto of 'I am who I am.' It doesn't matter what number they rank me. I know what I can do."

On the surface, there is a logical explanation for Carter's decline: during the past two seasons, he has been injured, missing 22 games in 2001-2 and 39 games last season with an assortment of knee and other ailments.