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Vince Carter is one of the all-time greats in Toronto Raptors history. He was the first star the franchise had, proving that a Canadian team can be a force in the NBA. But his split with the team overshadowed his excellent career there for a long time.
Carter was traded to the New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets midway through his seventh season with the Raptors. As Toronto continually failed in the playoffs and eventually became a losing team, Carter's frustrations with the franchise grew. In an appearance on Taylor Rooks X, Carter explained how he tried not to be an issue in the locker room and that he was looking for transparency on the franchise’s direction.
“I just didn't understand it,” Carter said, “and I thought it all through. I had a conversation with my agents and the organization. So because my conversation was, they were ready to transition into a new guy, Chris Bosh, I said, ‘If you guys don't need me that's fine.’ But one thing I wasn't going to be is a locker room problem, and I think that's what they were looking for. That's not my style, particularly after just telling you, like, wanting to help other guys and drop gems on them…It's not me. It's like, locker room problem? No, no, no, no. More so I'm like, ‘I want to play ball, that's it. That’s it.’”
Carter talked profoundly about simply wanting to play the game and the opportunities it gave him in life. He talked a lot about the joy he had while playing. Looking back on his tenure with Toronto and his historic statistical imprint, the years of playoff basketball and winning at a decent level helped bring joy to a gigantic base of fans.
While Carter’s Raptors never got past the second round, those teams did set the stage for young Canadian hoopers to develop dreams of making it to the NBA. Having a player as good and exciting as Carter ignited inspiration. It was never something he thought of but it was a clear, monumental impact on the country.
“Now, when you come back and you're hearing what Jamal Murray had to say, Tristan Thompson has come up to me and said unbelievable things about how they viewed me as a player. It's crazy to me,” Carter said. “It gives me chills to this day because I think about that moment. This is an NBA player who's standing in front of me with a uniform on in the NBA, he said, ‘You were my Michael Jordan.’ We're not talking about just any person we're talking about Michael Jordan and it was like wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. But that's how they viewed me.”
Canada has produced a vast collection of NBA talent, namely MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and some recent top-10 draft picks in Murray, Andrew Wiggins, RJ Barrett (now a Raptor himself), Bennedict Mathurin and Shaedon Sharpe. Plenty more had made their mark in the league and plenty more will follow. Carter may be from Florida but this largely started with him.
By the end of Carter's long NBA career, bygones were bygones between him and the Raptors. Fans gave him a warm reception in what was his final game in Toronto and have continued to do so when he travels back there.
