Just days after the Brooklyn Nets announced their plans to retire Vince Carter’s jersey, the team he first played for will be doing the same. The Toronto Raptors are planning to retire the jersey of the man who made basketball cool in Canada on November 2nd against the Sacramento Kings, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN.
Carter played six and a half seasons in Toronto, including scoring the first basket ever in Scotiabank Arena, before forcing his way out of town in a trade. Because of how he left, there was speculation that Carter would have to wait longer to receive this honor, but all bridges have been mended.
The man they once called “Half Man, Half Amazing” was originally selected by the Golden State Warriors in the 1998 NBA Draft before he was traded for his college teammate, Antawn Jamison, on draft night to become the face of the Toronto Raptors. Carter left as their all-time leading scorer but now sits behind DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, and Chris Bosh. Carter’s No. 15 jersey is the first retired jersey in franchise history.
After forcing his way out of Toronto in the 2004-05 season, Carter would play for the Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings, and Atlanta Hawks before calling it a career after 22 seasons. He played three seasons in Dallas in mostly a sixth-man role, finishing sixth in the Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2014. His most notable game as a Maverick came in Game 3 of the 2014 playoffs when he hit a buzzer-beating three from the corner to sink the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs.
