The Toronto Raptors Announce They Will Finally Retire Vince Carter's Number This Upcoming Season
Vince Carter is one of the headlining players of the Basketball Hall Of Fame 2024 Class, an honor that I'd say is well deserved. An 8x All Star 2x All NBA Player, All Rookie team member, and the 1998-99 ROY, not only did Vince have the longevity, he also finished with over 25,000 points which pretty much stamps your ticket into the HOF.
When you think of Vince Carter, what team do you associate him with? He was a Net for 5 seasons and made a couple All Star teams, but for me and anyone who was alive during Vinsanity, the answer is clearly the Toronto Raptors. Back in the late 9s/early 2000s, Vince Carter put the Raptors and basketball as a whole in Toronto on the map, and he was about as must-watch TV as must-watch TV gets
If you ask Raptors fans who the greatest Raptor ever might be, I imagine you'll get a few different answers. Some may say Vince, even though his exit from Toronto rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Make no mistake, he did the patented superstar demanding a trade out of a small market team that we generally don't love to see. Some may say Chris Bosh or DeMar DeRozan or Kyle Lowry, or Kawhi, all of which have their own cases.
As a franchise, the Raptors for a long time were one of the few in the league that did not have a retired number up in their rafters. Crazy that Bosh isn't up there still, and after decades of beef and burned bridges, the Raptors are finally making the choice to raise Vince Carter's #15 to the rafters as their first retired number in franchise history
While this is cool for Vince and Raptors fans, my Spidey senses are tingling when it comes to this announcement. I can't help but think back to what we learned just last week when it came to this same exact honor for Vince Carter from another team on his resume
When this was first announced I think everyone had the same reaction. The Nets are doing this before the Raptors??? Honestly it seems a little desperate to retire Vince Carter as a Net given he was only there for 5 seasons, made 3 All Star teams, didn't win a title and never even made it past the 2nd round in any of his seasons. I understand I say this as someone who roots for a franchise that retires EVERYONE'S number, but at least those come with titles attached.
So, I'm to believe that after all these years of not retiring Vince Carter's number, and even waiting so long after it was announced he was making the HOF, that just by chance the Raptors decided now was the right time? No chance. They clearly saw the Nets make this move, saw the date and coincidently picked one a few months prior? If this was always planned, why are we hearing about it immediately after the Nets made their announcement and there was pushback that the Raptors hadn't done this yet?
At the end of the day, I guess it doesn't matter. Going up to the rafters is going up to the rafters and while you could make the case that Chris Bosh should have been the first Raptor up there, he did leave TOR to title chase too so I get it. At least now this opens the door for guys like Bosh, DeRozan, Lowry to get their nod, because when you look at the franchise records, those are the names you see at the top of the list. For Lowry, he helped deliver the franchise's first-ever ring, so he rightfully should be a lock.
Even though the Vince Carter era in Toronto ended in disaster and there was real beef for a long time, you cannot tell the history of the Toronto Raptors without Vince Carter, so as a basketball fan this is cool to see, As someone who grew up right in the middle of Vinsanity, he really was a monster. That series vs PHI where him and Allen Iverson was some all time hoops, and I remember waking up each morning and checking the paper box score to see which one dropped 40+ (we had to do that back then, the internet was barely a thing). I think it's fair to think how he left TOR was bullshit and be mad at that as a fan (especially the revisionist history we're getting in 2024 from Vince about that), but it's also fair to acknowledge how important he was to that city and that franchise which makes this jersey retirement the perfect way to honor the legend and give the fans their chance to truly say goodbye to one of the most influential players in the team's history.
