After Shaquille O’Neal’s departure from the Los Angeles Lakers, he bounced around to a variety of teams during the final stage of his career. However, according to Vince Carter, O’Neal nearly became a Toronto Raptor after being courted by Carter.
During an interview with Jacob Feldman of Sports Illustrated, Carter was asked if there were any times in his career that he was recruited by another star. Carter said he was never recruited by anyone else, but did almost get Shaq to head up to Toronto:
“No. The only time I can recall is I tried to get Shaq to Toronto,” he said. “I felt like it was close. It was tough at the time, just because … a lot of guys were like, What’s Canada about? It was tough to convince players that it’s a great place until they’re actually there. Even me, when I worked out for them, I didn’t really know what they had to offer until I was actually there.”
Carter’s statements seem to echo that of many past and present Raptors players, in that it’s often hard to sell someone on living and playing in Canada until they do. Even most recently, it was reported that Kawhi Leonard wasn’t a big fan of being traded there, but given the passionate fan base and the way they rallied around him and the team, it’s clear that the basketball scene there is big.
Unfortunately for the Raptors, their 2019 hopes took a major hit when Kawhi Leonard decided to leave for the Los Angeles Clippers. With the team still retaining star players like Kyle Lowry and rising star Pascal Siakam, however, the team hopes to continue competing in the Eastern Conference.
As for Shaq and Vince Carter, that would have been quite the duo in the mid-2000s.
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