Toronto basketball fans welcomed back Vince Carter at a ceremony Friday, where the Raptors team president confirmed the former NBA star will become the first player in franchise history to have his jersey retired.
Joined by members of the Raptors organization and city hall, Carter was in town to help reopen refurbished basketball courts at Dixon Park. Carter’s Embassy of Hope foundation built the courts in 2003, when he was still playing in Toronto.
“I’m truly thankful for the opportunity to come back here,” Carter told a crowd of fans Friday. “It’s been a long time coming.”
The eight-time all-star was the face of the Toronto Raptors from 1998 to 2004, when the franchise was still in its early years. He won a rookie-of-the-year award and a slam dunk contest during that time, leading the Raptors to their first playoff appearance while electrifying crowds with his high-flying play.
His departure in 2004 was acrimonious, being traded to the New Jersey Nets for little return amid accusations he had quit on the team. But at Friday’s ceremony, any bad blood appeared to have long since been washed away.
“It doesn’t matter what’s happened. Time heals things,” Raptors president Masai Ujiri told the crowd.
“He took a young franchise to make those little baby steps that could get us to be a global spotlight,” Ujiri said, crediting Carter with setting the organization on the path to its 2019 championship and status as a premiere NBA franchise.
Ujiri then thanked Carter “on behalf of this whole city and this country” for helping to grow the game of basketball in Toronto and Canada, before telling him that this NBA season he will become the first Toronto Raptor to have his jersey retired.
Fighting back tears, Carter thanked the Raptors organization for the honour and congratulated them on their 2019 championship, saying he was happy to have been a part of “the boom of Raptor basketball.”
Carter also acknowledged his up-and-down relationship with the Raptors and Toronto sports fans, saying he accepted not everyone was happy to see his jersey retired, but he hoped his time with the Raptors and the refurbished courts he’d helped build would help inspire future basketball players.
“To put an even better court down, have more people here, more opportunity, that’s what it’s all about,” Carter said.
The Dixon Park courts were refurbished with new asphalt, fencing, posts, backboards and seating by the charity foundation of Maple Leafs Sports Entertainment, majority owner of the Raptors.
Carter’s jersey will officially be retired by the Raptors before a game in Toronto Nov. 2. He will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame next month. Carter retired from professional basketball in 2020 after a 22-year career. He is the only NBA player to have played in four different decades.