Vince Carter has wowed fans with his dunks and other athletic feats throughout his storied career.
Vince Carter is going to be one of few players who has a legacy in which his lacking a championship will not be overly discussed.
After this season, Carter will have put on a show for 22 NBA seasons, which will give him the record of longest career in league history. His nickname “Half Man, Half Amazing” might just be one of the most fitting nicknames in hoops history. Whether it was dunking over Frederic Weis in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, or wowing fans in his iconic 2000 Slam Dunk Contest performance, Carter has proven to be one of the most athletic players in NBA history.
Now, as he finishes his last season, he’s been praised by players such as Houston Rockets star James Harden. Carter got a standing ovation in December during his final game at Madison Square Garden. On Sunday, he played his final game against the Brooklyn Nets, and he received a standing ovation.
Carter played for the Nets when they were in New Jersey, and as one of the franchise’s all-time best players, his jersey should hang in the rafters.
Despite not leading the team to any titles, Carter was one of the best hoopers of his generation.
After the Atlanta Hawks lost to the Nets on Sunday, Carter spoke on what it would feel like to have his jersey retired. Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Jason Kidd, Bill Melchionni, the late John Williamson, Buck Williams and the late Drazen Petrovic each have their Nets jersey retired.
“When you look up in the rafters and see the group of people that’s up there, if one day I get that opportunity, that honor, I’m OK with going up there with a guy who I looked up to in Dr. J and a great teammate like J-Kidd,” Carter said, per Michael Scotto of Bleacher Report.
In five seasons with the Nets, Carter averaged 23.6 points per game, the highest among any of the teams he’s played for. According to Basketball Reference, Carter ranks third on the Nets’ all-time leading scorers list.
Carter, Kidd and Richard Jefferson were one of the most fun trios to watch in the mid 2000s. The group started playing together in the 2004-05 season, when Carter was traded to the team from the Toronto Raptors during the season.
With Kidd, the Nets had one of the best and smartest players ever as a floor general. As a fellow wing, Jefferson complemented Carter’s ability to score with his slashing ability. The group only made it as far as the Eastern Conference semifinals, but the three played exciting basketball.
Carter’s influence on the generation that followed is special. Nets star Kyrie Irving is evidence of that, as he spoke highly of Carter after Sunday’s game.
“That was a kid’s dream to go see Vince Carter and Jason Kidd and the New Jersey Nets play, but specifically Vince Carter,” Irving said, per Anthony Puccio of Nets Daily. “He used to do some amazing things, man. It was incredible as a kid to watch.”
As one of the top scorers the league has seen, Carter is ranked No. 20 all-time in points, and currently he’s ranked fourth all-time in games played. A quality 3-point shooter throughout his career, he has shot 37.2% from deep.
In this day and age, hoops fans sometimes ring count. That is, sometimes a player’s legacy is tied too much to whether they won titles.
But Carter is different, and a big part of that is because his legacy consists of him being arguably the best dunker ever, along with his consistency. He averaged double figures in scoring from his rookie season in 1998 through the 2013-14 season.
Carter having his jersey potentially hanging in the rafters at Barclays Center would serve as a reminder of his greatness.
But unlike many other all-time greats, Carter won’t need any rings to prove how amazing he was.
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