With the Atlanta Hawks missing out on the NBA’s bubble league in Orlando, 22-year veteran Vince Carter has decided to officially hang it up.
In a new episode of his podcast at The Ringer, “Winging It,” Carter announced he was finally retiring. Though the circumstances — a pandemic, an injury barrage for the Hawks — are less than ideal, Carter said he takes solace knowing all of what happened was out of his control.
Few players have reinvented themselves like Carter. The Tar Heel great entered the NBA as one of the craziest athletes the league had ever seen, a potential franchise player for Toronto alongside his cousin, Tracy McGrady. After a few years with the Raptors, Carter left for the Nets, where he was a top-three player for a perennial championship contender and two time NBA finalist. Carter maintained relevance playing on solid playoff teams in Orlando and Dallas the next few years before settling in as the NBA’s favorite veteran leader.
Throughout stops in Memphis, Sacramento, and Atlanta, Carter became a sage veteran for young, rebuilding teams and a media favorite. Carter has long been seen as one of the next big TV analysts, and a bidding war between ESPN, where he’s been a frequent contributor on The Jump and Turner, which could use an upgrade on its color commentary roster, should play out before the 2020-21 season.
More than anything, Carter will be remembered for his dunks and being a good dude. It also helped that he was, you know, a very, very good basketball player — he made eight All-Star teams, two All-NBA teams, and scored nearly 26,000 points in the league. Based on longevity alone, Carter will have a case for the Hall of Fame.