NBA legend, record holder and owner of the name “mobile highlight machine”. These three names are all used for Vince Carter, a former player who played 22 years in the NBA.
Besides the highlights of beautiful dunks or game-winning shots of a lifetime, Vince Carter has just received special gratitude from one of the 8 teams he has played for.
According to the announcement on the team’s official social networking platforms, the Brooklyn Nets Club will permanently retire Vince Carter’s number 15 shirt next season.
Vince Carter will be the 7th player to retire from the Brooklyn Nets (formerly the New Jersey Nets). Five previous recipients of this honor include Julius Erving, Dražen Petrović, Jason Kidd, John Williamson, Bill Melchionni and Buck Williams.
This is Carter’s second good news in the past month. Previously, he was nominated into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.
Vince Carter started his NBA career with the Toronto Raptors. Then, the dunking machine born in 1977 moved to the New Jersey Nets at the end of 2004 in the blockbuster trade between him and Alonzo Mourning.
Carter played a total of 5 seasons for the New Jersey Nets and only missed 11 games. Not only did he show perseverance, he also played the role of the team’s best scorer and made the All-Star team twice.
Along with Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson, creating a trio of pillars at that time, Vince Carter participated in many Playoffs seasons, including 2 years reaching the regional semi-finals.
During 5 years with the New Jersey Nets, Vince Carter averaged 23.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game.
Vince Carter said goodbye to the New Jersey Nets after the 2008-09 season ended, being traded to the Orlando Magic. Since then, “VC” played for 5 more different teams before retiring in the summer of 2020.
To date, Vince Carter is the only player to play through four different decades, spanning from the 1998-99 season to the end of the 2019-20 season. Carter’s number of 22 professional seasons in the NBA is still a record for the American Professional Basketball League.
Although the milestone of 22 seasons will soon be conquered by LeBron James in the next 2024-25 season, playing football through 4 different decades will be a special record that Vince Carter monopolizes for a long time.
Vince Carter had 8 consecutive NBA All-Star appearances, lasting from 2000 to 2007.
In addition, he was honored in the All-NBA team for two years and was the owner of the Rookie of The Year title. It cannot be overlooked that Carter was the champion of the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest, one of the most eye-catching dunk contests in NBA history.
Currently retired, Vince’s life still revolves around basketball as an analyst for Turner Sports, the owner of TNT radio.
