NEW YORK — When Vince Carter first joined the New Jersey Nets, he used to stare up at one particular banner hanging from the arena ceiling. Buck Williams held the franchise scoring record at the time, and his number 52 was watching over Carter and the Nets. Everything Carter did was under the legacy of legends before him.
Carter would be sitting on the bench, glance up at the numbers for Williams and Julius Erving, and say, “Man, I’d love to see my jersey up there.”
Saturday, 20 years after he became a Net, he was back on the Nets’ court alongside Erving and Williams, staring at a crisp, fresh banner with his name on it. His jersey was finally up there. The number 15 has been retired in Brooklyn.
Carter’s legacy developed a distinct patina over a record 22 seasons, one of the few players whose career can be broken up into decades. He was admired and reviled at times for various reasons, going from hero to villain, then back to hero again, in Toronto. He was so brilliant to watch that they eventually forgave him for leaving and retired his number earlier this season.
He broke onto the scene as a gravity-averse acrobat who became one of the defining superstars of the NBA’s post-Jordan transition. He became a Nets legend in just five seasons, even though they never made it out of the second round. Then he found a second act as one of the league’s consummate role players.
He was not quite one of the best players in the game and never won a ring, but he was an obvious first-ballot Hall of Famer. To be such a shoo-in for such a lofty recognition requires something more than just a few — or many — mind-blowing dunks. He had to be rooted in a franchise’s success, to have a home where the fans looked at him as an icon rather than someone who passed through.
That’s what he sought when he was traded to the Nets from the Toronto Raptors, whose fans spent the next decade booing him because they felt let down. But joining Jason Kidd in New Jersey gave his career a stepping stone toward his full potential.
Iconic. pic.twitter.com/LPR2dDdeKE
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) January 26, 2025
“It was new life,” Carter said. “The crazy thing about that is that I was criticized for it. … In the beginning, I wanted to prove I belonged. I wanted to prove that I was able to get it done just like the best of the best. Not just scoring, but I can utilize the players that I have on a roster, and in my mind, lead them, hopefully, to the promised land.”
When Carter arrived in New Jersey, he said, all he knew was working hard to get a bucket. His ability to do that, no matter how hard the defense was guarding him, made him special. He could jump over and around anybody, scoring in ways few players had done before.
But when he teamed up with Kidd, suddenly he didn’t need to run the whole show.
“He made the game easier for me,” Carter said. “Then once I got comfortable in that role, I wanted to make the game easier for him. And it was amazing.”
But Carter and Kidd never won a title or even made it back to the NBA Finals after Kidd led the Nets there a few years earlier. Carter was often the subject of media criticism because he was one of the league’s pre-eminent stars who didn’t have the playoff success to match. Though the pairing was successful in rejuvenating a Nets squad that was losing its spark, they didn’t achieve the ultimate goal.
“I took the onus to put that on my shoulder and I was pissed for what I didn’t deliver, but it was OK,” Carter said of his first year with New Jersey. “I was back the next year and I was OK with it. You guys are brutal sometimes, but I appreciate it because it’s motivating.”
“I wasn’t afraid to fail. And when I did, I wanted more. I wanted the opportunity again.”
When his time in New Jersey ended, his career could have steadily dwindled as his athleticism faded. But he found a new life yet again as the savvy veteran for six more franchises over eleven more seasons. He ended up with the longest career in NBA history and is now remembered fondly, even in Toronto.
“I had my chances (to win a title), but at the same time, I still loved to play, and I was still willing to put the work in to play,” Carter said. “So for me, I’m willing to help anybody, any player, and it’s well documented. But I always felt the way today’s kids, the way you help them is by showing them.”
Carter came to the Nets hoping to be remembered just like Erving and Williams, franchise icons whose jerseys hang in the rafters as reminders of better times. So when it was time for Carter’s jersey to unfurl in the rafters, he said it was only fitting that his luminaries were there applauding him.
“It’s always cool when guys like that say, ‘Welcome to the club.’”
(Photo: Jordan Bank / Getty Images)
