According to Steve Simmons of The Toronto Sun on Monday, the Toronto Raptors announced they are planning to retire the number 15 jersey of Vince Carter during a ceremony on November 2 when the Raptors host the Sacramento Kings at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario. Carter, who was nicknamed Air Canada because of his impressive dunks, played seven seasons with the Raptors from 1998 to 2005. This is the first time ever the Raptors are retiring a player’s jersey.
The ceremony will be about three weeks after Carter’s induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts on October 13. Carter’s final NBA season came with the Atlanta Hawks in 2019-20.
The Raptors are not the only franchise retiring Carter’s number 15. The Brooklyn Nets will do the same when they host the Miami Heat on January 25.
In 403 games with the Raptors, Carter, who was a shooting guard and small forward, averaged 23.4 points per game, 5.2 rebounds per game, 3.9 assists per game, 1.3 steals per game, and one block per game, along with a field goal percentage of .446, free throw percentage of .783 and three-point percentage of .383. He was also the 1998-99 NBA Rookie of the Year, and was a five-time All-Star with the Raptors from 2000 to 2004.
The event next month is not considered completely positive. In Simmons’s piece, he disagrees with the retirement ceremony taking place, and I somewhat agree. One cannot forget the fact Carter asked to be traded by the Raptors, how Simmons put it that Carter “ostensibly quit on his first NBA team,” and Carter’s lack of defense on many nights while with the Raptors.
