As the Toronto Raptors approach their 30th season, one of the biggest things talked about is if the team will retire Vince Carter’s jersey.
Carter recently got inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and Raptors president Masai Ujiri hinted that the team will do something big to honor him.
Therefore, all arrows are pointing to the Raptors retiring his No. 15 jersey.
The Brooklyn Nets have already announced that they will retire Carter’s No. 15 jersey next season, beating Toronto to the punch.
Toronto still hasn’t made a formal announcement about retiring Carter’s jersey, however there’s no doubt he deserves it.
The Ringer’s Logan Murdock recently talked about why the Raptors should absolutely retire Carter’s jersey:
“If you asked anybody that is even remotely around Canadian basketball, that’s around my age. I’ve talked to Andrew Wiggins about this. You talk to, Shai [Gileous-Alexander] about this. Like he was, what he did only for in the semifinals, but I would say it’s not even an argument. The dunk contest that he had in Oakland, had a huge impact on Canadian basketball and putting Canadian basketball on the map. The fact that it’s took this long says a lot. He should’ve had his jersey retired by that organization. I don’t care what happened, you figure that out…you do the right thing and you retire his jersey.”
The Raptors should absolutely retire Vince Carter’s jersey https://t.co/G6f9kYLYJX pic.twitter.com/vYshagWT6S
— RingerNBA (@ringernba) May 20, 2024
Carter won the NBA rookie of the year award in 1999 and the dunk contest in 2000 while with Toronto. He led the Raptors to their first-ever playoff series win in 2001.
He played just over six seasons for Toronto before they traded him to New Jersey.
After all of these years the Raptors faithful and Carter seem to be on good terms. He was cheered earlier this year when he returned to the city as a broadcaster for TNT.
Vince Carter wants to enter Hall of Fame as a Raptor
Carter has already made it clear that when he is officially inducted into the Hall of Fame in August, he will be going in as a Raptor.
“There’s no greater honor than to go into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a Raptor,” he said on April 6.
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