When the Toronto Raptors traded Antawn Jamison to the Golden State Warriors for Vince Carter during the 1998 NBA Draft, the team was coming off a 16-win season in which Darrell Walker was let go and Butch Carter, brother of Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris, replaced him. Damon Stoudamire, the franchise’s first ever draft pick in 1995 and the ‘95 Rookie of the Year, was traded 49 games into the ‘97-‘98 campaign to the Portland Trail Blazers in a deal that included Kenny Anderson. Anderson never reported to the Raptors and was subsequently traded to the Boston Celtics. One of the pieces that the Raptors got in the Anderson deal was future Hall of Fame point guard Chauncey Billups. 11 months later, the Raptors traded Billups to the Denver Nuggets. Ironically, Carter and Billups were both members of the 2024 Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame class.
Carter’s cousin, Tracy McGrady, was drafted ninth overall in ‘97 out of Mount Zion Christian Academy (Durham, NC). The cousins represented the Raptors’ future.
And so, coming off the 16-66 campaign in which their first franchise cornerstone was traded and a future Hall of Famer was dealt, it was Vince’s show.
In his lockout-shortened rookie season, he started 49 of his 50 games played and averaged 18.3 points and 5.7 rebounds on 45 percent shooting. The next season, ‘99-‘00, his scoring increased to 25.7, and he made the first of six consecutive all-star teams.
After a disappointing 2000 playoffs where the team was swept 3-0 by the New York Knicks in the opening round, the Raptors came back in ‘00-‘01 and won 47 games under Hall of Fame head coach Lenny Wilkens. Carter averaged a career-high 27.6 points, and on April 26, 2001 the franchise won their first ever playoff game, a 94-74 win over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Eight days later, a 93-89 victory in Game 5 capped their first playoff series win.
Carter and Philadelphia's Allen Iverson dueled in the Conference Semifinals. Iverson averaged 33.7 points, Carter 30.4. Iverson poured in 54 in a 97-92 Game 2 win. Carter countered with 50 in Game 3 back in Toronto, a 102-78 Raptor triumph. Iverson scored 52 in a 121-88 Game 5 win. The series went seven, and Carter played every minute of the final game, scoring 20 points on six made field-goals. Iverson scored 21 on eight made field-goals, and had 16 assists. He too played every minute. Carter hit back rim on a three-point attempt at the buzzer that would have advanced the Raptors to the Eastern Conference Finals, a stage that they would get to two times in the next 18 seasons (2016 and the title-winning ‘19 season). Much was made at the time of Carter attending his University of North Carolina graduation early in the day of Game 7. Both he and Iverson were superstars. Both were counted on by their respective teams. Carter showed up to play. He and Iverson both had off nights shooting the ball.
The Game 7 in ‘01 would prove to be the last eventful moment in Carter's Raptor career. The ‘01-‘02 team had its two veterans, Dell Curry, 37, and the newly acquired Hakeem Olajuwon who was 39 years old. But the roster did not have as many impact players. 40 wins and a first-round loss to the Detroit Pistons was the result in ‘01-‘02.
Carter played just 43 games in ‘02-‘03 as he dealt with knee issues. The veteran-laden group that had resided in the previous years and mixed so well with young talent was no longer. 24 wins that season was followed by 33 wins in ‘03-‘04. 2004's eighth-overall draft choice was Rafael Araujo, a center from from Bringham Young University. He played 111 games as a Raptor over two seasons before one final NBA season in Utah.
December 17, 2004. The sports television ticker broke the news. Carter to the New Jersey Nets. Eric Williams, Aaron Williams, Alonzo Mourning, and two first-round picks were headed to Toronto. Mourning never reported. 33 wins for the ‘04-‘05 Raptors under new head coach Kevin O’Neill, who had previously head coached the University of Tennessee and Marquette University. Jalen Rose, who was acquired during the ‘03-‘04 season, is on record as saying he was looking forward to playing with Carter in Toronto.
For years, Carter was viewed negatively by Raptor fans. The prevailing notion was that he quit on the team, that he did not want to be there. Untrue, both in his words and in the words of former head coach Sam Mitchell.
In Carter’s Net playoff career, the team lost in the first round once (2005 to the Miami Heat), and second round twice (Heat in 2006, Cleveland Cavaliers in 2007).
Salt was rubbed in the wounds of Torontonians and Raptor fans when Carter in a 2008 game drilled a triple from straight-away to send an Air Canada Centre contest into overtime. The arena filled with boos. Carter let out a primal roar at the other end of the court. With the game tied at 127 in overtime, Carter was found on an alley-oop for a reverse jam as the clock wound down. A last second heave from the Raptors missed. Carter, who scored 39 points in the victory, ran straight to the locker room in jubilation.
After the ‘08-‘09 season, the 32-year-old Daytona Beach native went back home to central Florida for what was his 12th NBA season, the start of a run where he would become a key veteran role player for many teams. In the ensuing 11 years, he called the Orlando Magic, the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings, and Atlanta Hawks home. Towards the end, he mentored some of the next grouping of young stars - De'Aaron Fox in Sacramento and Trae Young in Atlanta. Prior to LeBron James this season, Carter was the sole leader for the most NBA seasons played with 22. He played 60 games in 2019-2020 before the Coronavirus pandemic shut down his farewell tour. Up until then, he was still dunking, still levitating, still finishing with a flair that has been unique only to few on a basketball court.
As a collegian and in his early league days, he was hailed as one of the next Michael Jordans - same school, similar athleticism, similar effortless output. His 2000 Slam Dunk Contest performance changed the way in which future contests were measured. He was to be the first and maybe the only Raptor savior. Yet, he was out of Toronto by age 27.
What ensued was bitterness and a sense of betrayal. In the moment, it might have made sense. But professional sports is a business. Fans tend to take it personal.
With time though, healing happened.
On November 19, 2014, Carter, aged 38 at the time and a Grizzly, received a video tribute during a break in action in Toronto. Tears flowed.
Carter now is 47, newly enshrined in October as part of the 2024 Naismith Hall of Fame Class. Of his eight all-star appearances, six happened as a Raptor. Upon induction into Springfield, he proudly repped the first NBA franchise that he came to know. Each time he now speaks of his time in Toronto and what the franchise, city, and fans mean to him, emotions are at the forefront. Time has indeed healed the wounds. It is apparent that his love and appreciation for the city and the franchise never left.
Steve Nash was the first Canadian NBA player to truly excel as a superstar. American-born star Kawhi Leonard is the best player to ever put on a Raptor jersey. Fellow US natives Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are beloved by fans and carried the team to years of contention. Lowry tends to be the most adored, and most commonly gets the nod as "The Greatest Raptor of All-Time".
But none of it happens without Vince Carter. A seed was planted on that June evening in 1998 when Glen Grunwald, the team’s General Manager at the time, agreed to deal Jamison for Carter. It was a seed that blossomed into excitement, hope, and worldwide recognition. Into superstardom. Something that blossomed into what you see now.
There are 23 current Canadian-born players on NBA rosters. Tristan Thompson (March 13, 1991) is the oldest. Leonard Miller (November 26, 2003) is the youngest. Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Hamilton, ON) is an MVP candidate, and his teammate Lu Dort (Montreal, QC) is an All-NBA defender. Thompson (Brampton, ON), Jamal Murray (Kitchener, ON), and Andrew Wiggins (Toronto, ON) are among active Canadians that have each won an NBA championship (Rick Fox won three with the Los Angeles Lakers from 2000-2002). Houston Rocket Dillon Brooks (Mississauga, ON) is, like Dort, one of the game's premier defenders. Portland Trail Blazer Shaedon Sharpe (London, ON) is one of the game's bright young players and one of its best dunkers.
Thompson and fellow veterans Cory Joseph, Dwight Powell, and Kelly Olynyk (all three of whom are from Toronto) were in their youth when Carter began his career. Memories of both he and Steve Nash surely make up their viewing experience as youngsters. Wiggins, who turns 30 next year, has also said that Carter is responsible for his love of the game.
For the younger players likes Gilgeous-Alexander and Brooks and R.J. Barrett (the latter whose dad Rowan played with Nash on the Canadian men’s national team) they were too young to remember Carter as a Raptor. The impact during Carter’s time and since, though, has surely been felt - the recognition, the admiration, and the promotion of the franchise that was spawned by the Carter-era success.
The Vancouver Grizzlies were also an expansion team in ‘95-‘96, and lasted through the end of the ‘00-‘01 season, after which they were moved to Memphis. Despite the efforts of Bryant Reeves and Shareef Abdur-Rahim and a young Mike Bibby, all three capable players in their own right and whom were marquee players for the franchise, the team did not have staying power in British Columbia. Had the franchise had a player like Carter, would it have been different? Would the same cultural shift that occurred in Toronto had taken place out west?
We do not know the answer to that. What we do know, however, is that upon his debut in Toronto in ‘98, Vince Carter left an indelible mark. All of it culminated in his jersey retirement on Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena as the Raptors defeated the Sacramento Kings 131-128 in overtime. Air Canada, a nickname bestowed upon Carter by former Raptor play-by-play announcer and current Chicago Bulls' radio voice Chuck Swirsky, wasn’t just solely a nickname. Rather, it was a euphemism for his carrying of the franchise in its younger days. For six years, the franchise loaded up the cargo and entrusted Carter as the pilot to lead them to destinations never before seen.
That he did.
The bitterness and pain is long gone. Saturday night in Toronto was a celebration that could have been forecasted all those years ago from 30,000 feet.
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