NBA legend, Vince Carter, announced today that the upcoming season would be his last. The 42-year-old will play a record-breaking 22nd season before hanging up his kicks.
Carter announced the news on ESPN’s The Jump, telling host Rachel Nichols and former NBA forward Stephen Jackson that he plans to retire after the 2019-2020 NBA season. “I got one more in me,” he said. No six words have ever hurt the fanbase of an entire sport more than those six did to basketball fans.
Over the course of his incredible career, Carter averaged 17.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. He’s sixth all-time in three-pointers made (2229) and fifth in games played (1481).
Upcoming Season Will be Vince Carter’s Final One
The former Toronto Raptors and New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets star had an incredible career. As soon as he joined the league in 1998 he was clearly special. He turned around the NBA’s expansion franchise at the time, the Raptors. When he got to Toronto, the Raptors were the laughingstock of the league, bottom-feeders in the Eastern Conference. Not even three years later, they pushed Allen Iverson and his Philadelphia 76ers to seven games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. He was the 1999 NBA Rookie of the Year. His performance in the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest will forever be embedded in the brains of anyone who saw it. To this day, Vince Carter might be the best dunker in the history of the league.
Vince Carter had a massive impact on the game, and his career seemed as though it would never end. His iconic dunks inspired so many, and his time in Canada with the Toronto Raptors changed basketball in Canada forever.
An eight-time All-Star. NBA Rookie of the Year. Seemingly ageless. It won’t be long before he takes his rightful place in the NBA Hall of Fame as an indisputable first-ballot selection. Vinsanity will be missed. As fans, let’s make the most of his final season. Appreciate him while you have him, NBA fans. You have 82 games left to appreciate him.
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