Epic dunks, clutch shots and 'It's over': Vince Carter's Hall of Fame moments

After a high-flying career that traversed 22 seasons, “Air Canada” officially lands at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday.

Vince Carter‘s enshrinement caps a career defined by big-time slam dunks and impressive longevity. Carter played for eight teams, most notably with the Toronto Raptors during the first 5½ seasons of his career followed by 4½ seasons with the then-New Jersey Nets.

An eight-time All-Star, he is the only player whose career spanned four different decades, and his 1,541 games are third most in NBA history behind fellow Hall of Famers Robert Parish and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Carter joined the Raptors on draft night in 1998 (originally selected by the Golden State Warriors) and made an instant impact, winning 1998-99 Rookie of the Year. The “Vinsanity” era really took off in 2000 when he won the NBA All-Star Game slam dunk contest, followed by his gravity-defying dunk over 7-foot-2 center Frédéric Weis at the Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Sunday’s Hall of Fame ceremony will be the first of several this season honoring Carter, who retired in 2020. On Nov. 2, the Raptors will retire his No. 15 jersey, making him the franchise’s first player to receive that honor. The Brooklyn Nets will also retire No. 15 on Jan. 25 for Carter’s seasons in New Jersey.

Carter not only left an impression on his teammates and opponents, but on those who covered his game. Ahead of the weekend’s ceremonies, ESPN reporters share their favorite moments and memories from Carter’s career.

Family ties: How two Hall of Famers found out they were related

I’ve been fortunate to be teammates with both Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady. Well, “teammates” in that we’ve been on the same TV set doing “NBA Today” together. Whenever Vince or Tracy were on, we’d refer to them as cousins. Because they are related, and it’s delightful that both will be in the NBA Hall of Fame now.

What you might not know is that they found out they were cousins only when McGrady was a senior in high school and Carter at North Carolina. According to McGrady, they grew up playing for the same AAU team and traveled in many of the same circles. But it wasn’t until McGrady visited Chapel Hill to play in a pickup game that the familial connection was made.

“No one was letting me use their locker,” McGrady recalled. “So Vince was like, ‘Yo man, you can use my locker. Just because of our times on Team Florida together, I guess.”

A few days later, McGrady attended a family reunion in Florida.

“I’m having a conversation with my grandmother with a table full of people,” he said. “And we started talking about basketball, obviously. This lady goes, my grandson is playing college ball in North Carolina.

“I was like, ‘ Where is he at?’ She was like, ‘Chapel Hill. He’s a Tar Heel.’ … She called him Vincent. I said, ‘Hold on, Vincent?’

“She said, ‘Vincent Carter.’ I said, ‘Vince?’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s my grandson.

“I looked at my grandmother, and I said, ‘Are you two related?’ She was like, ‘Yes.'”

McGrady immediately called his newly discovered cousin.

“He was like, ‘Bro, I know you f—ing lying.’ He didn’t believe it. … You just left me. What are you talking about?

“I say, ‘Bro, I’m sitting here with your grandmother right now at the family reunion.”

McGrady went straight from high school to the NBA, being drafted ninth in the 1997 draft by the Raptors. The following season, Carter declared for the draft after three years at UNC. McGrady mentioned his older cousin to then-Raptors coach Butch Carter.

“I told him, ‘We got to draft him, man. We got to draft. I mean, I was 18 years old, in a foreign country, and if y’all trying to make me the future of this franchise, I need some input and I want somebody to go with me that I feel comfortable with. Plus, he’s the most talented cat in this draft. Put us together.”

The Raptors obliged, and NBA history was born. “It was just such a joy,” McGrady said. “Unbelievable. To have him as a teammate and finding out we was cousins at the same time. Then to watch someone become a star right before your eyes and take the league by storm at such a young age.

“He came in his rookie year and he was doing some s— that we never seen before. And what I tell you, I was like the biggest Vince Carter fan.” — Ramona Shelburne

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‘It’s over’ in Oakland: Carter’s iconic slam dunk

There are a lot of Vince Carter memories to choose from, but the one that will always stand out to me was the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk competition in Oakland, California. That was my first season covering the NBA, and it was cool to see my first All-Star Weekend back at home.

There was oddly a lot of rain that weekend, but the scene inside for the dunk contest at the Arena at Oakland was a vibe. Shaquille O’Neal famously recorded the event from a handheld camcorder while the likes of Chris Webber, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan and Dikembe Mutombo sat courtside. The field was a solid one with Ricky Davis, Steve Francis, Larry Hughes, Tracy McGrady and Jerry Stackhouse among the competition.

As someone who had loved watching the dunk contest since childhood, I was looking forward to this event more than the actual All-Star Game. Carter opened with a beautiful and punishing reverse 360 slam, and there was an eruption from the crowd that shifted the spotlight to him and only him for the rest of the night.

Kenny Smith was yelling, ‘Let’s go home,’ over and over on TV. Fans were holding up “10” signs and NBA stars’ mouths were wide open with amazement. With the crowd in the palm of his hands, Carter’s momentum continued as he put the ball through his legs for his third dunk and turned to the camera and said, “It’s over.”

It was, indeed, over. Carter turned in one of the most dominating and memorable performances in dunk contest history. After the dust settled, I went to a party in San Francisco with performances by artists such as Snoop Dogg and Destiny’s Child where Carter’s name was the humming topic of conversation over the music. — Marc J. Spears

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How Carter’s arrival to the Nets changed the franchise

The impact that Vince had on the New Jersey Nets is immeasurable and not talked about enough. After two straight NBA Finals appearances in 2002 and 2003, and then a second-round loss to the eventual champion Detroit Pistons in 2004 (I still blame Chauncey Billups for the half-court shot that forced overtime in Game 5), ownership decided that offseason to break up the team.

Before the 2004-05 season, Kenyon Martin was dealt to the Denver Nuggets via sign-and-trade for three first-round picks. Kerry Kittles was sent to the LA Clippers for a second-round pick. Sixth-man Lucious Harris was waived. Jason Kidd had microfracture surgery on his left knee that kept him out for the beginning of the season. The turnover of the roster resulted in New Jersey stumbling out of the gates with just two wins in its first 13 games. The organization was listless and with no direction.

But on Dec. 17, 2004, that all changed when team president of basketball operations Rod Thorn pulled off one of the biggest trades in franchise history. I was part of the Nets’ front office during that time. It was a cold Friday, and I still remember walking into Rod’s office. He handed me a piece of paper and asked me to run the numbers on the trade. The first name that appeared was Vince Carter. I was stunned and in disbelief.

The next day Alonzo Mourning, Eric Williams, Aaron Williams and two of the two first-round picks that were acquired from Denver in the Martin trade were sent to Toronto for Carter. It got the team back on track. Carter averaged 27.5 points that season and formed a formidable backcourt partnership with Kidd once he returned.

A late-season push saw New Jersey squeak into the 2005 playoffs on the last day of the regular season. Carter and the Nets fared better in 2006, reaching the second round of the playoffs before losing to the eventual champion Miami Heat. In 2007, it was another second-round exit — this time at the hands of LeBron James on his way to his first NBA Finals appearance with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Nets never reached the Finals with Carter, but the organization changed for the better after he arrived. — Bobby Marks

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The best in-person NBA dunk? Carter puts ‘Zo on a poster

When Vince Carter arrived to the Nets in 2004, I immediately knew I would be seeing dunks like I’ve never seen before. Having covered the Nets era that included back-to-back NBA Finals appearances from 2001 to 2003, I saw my fair share of jaw-dropping, no-look alley-oops from Jason Kidd to Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson.

But the greatest dunk I’ve ever witnessed live was in Miami courtesy of Carter.

The play started with Jefferson driving and missing a shot over Alonzo Mourning, who, in 2005, was one of the most intimidating shot blockers in the game. Mourning couldn’t secure the rebound, and the ball bounced off his hands toward Carter on the right wing. With Jason Williams chasing after the ball, Carter snatched the loose ball with his right hand and, incredibly, dribbled behind his back before moving and catching the ball with his right hand to elude Williams.

Watch the replay! The move itself was a highlight. You don’t notice it because of what comes next.

I was sitting baseline behind the basket, and Vince was heading straight toward me. He had a clear path to the paint, and it looked like the seas had parted. Mourning was the only one standing in the way of the rim. Mourning was the only one standing in the way. It didn’t matter. Carter took off. It seemed like he kept rising and with his right arm cocked back, threw down the most ridiculous poster dunk right on top of Mourning.

Heat legend Dwyane Wade later said, “That’s top 10 … in the whole history of the NBA.”

Even sweeter was the fact that Mourning, who played for the Nets in the previous season but wanted out of New Jersey, had been traded for Carter. — Ohm Youngmisuk

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Carter’s late-game heroics haunt his former team in Toronto

Toronto has long been one of the coldest stops in the NBA for visiting teams, but few experienced as chilly of a reception as Carter after being traded to New Jersey in 2004.

After being named Rookie of the Year and then earning five straight All-Star bids with the franchise, Carter’s star stalled in Canada as he led the Raptors to just one playoff series win in six years.

Following the trade, the high-flying forward became a symbol of untapped potential for the fan base, and Torontonians ruthlessly let him hear it whenever he returned as an opponent.

By the time Jan. 8, 2006, came around, Carter had already gone 2-0 in his first trips north of the border when he returned a third time to put together a masterful performance.

“He was amazing the whole game. Lobs, pin-downs, 3s,” former Raptors guard Jose Calderon told ESPN, looking back at the game. “He made shot after shot. It didn’t matter what kind of defense.”

Calderon, just a rookie at the time, went to the free throw line with Toronto up by one with 7.2 seconds left. He made the first and missed the second.

Then Carter took over.

“He pulled up for a deep 3 to win the game,” Calderon said about the Nets’ 105-104 win. “What a return.”

That shot capped Carter’s 42-point performance, with 24 coming in the fourth quarter.

As amazing as that was for Carter, it was only half as impressive as his win in Toronto two years later.

On Nov. 21, 2008 — against a Raptors team that had revamped by building around Chris Bosh and 2006 No. 1 pick Andrea Bargnani — Carter came up clutch twice. Trailing by three with 3.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Carter received an inbounds pass from beyond the arc, squared up and nailed a triple to tie the score and force overtime.

Then, in the extra session, he flashed his signature hops to win it for the Nets by throwing down a two-handed, reverse dunk off an alley-oop pass inbounded from near half court to give New Jersey the go-ahead score. — Dave McMenamin

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Carter turns back the clock in Mavs playoff thriller

Carter’s mind flashed back to one of the toughest moments of his career as the huddle broke and he walked onto the court at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

There were 1.7 seconds remaining in Game 3 of the Dallas Mavericks‘ 2014 first-round series against the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs. Dallas trailed by two points. Carter wasn’t the primary option on the play, but then-Mavs coach Rick Carlisle told him during the timeout that he’d likely get the winning look.

“Hey, let’s make this one,” Carter said after the game, remembering his previous opportunity to win a playoff game with a buzzer-beater.

Carter was referring to May 20, 2001 — a date he could never forget. It was Game 7 in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers. Carter, then a young superstar at the peak of “Vinsanity,” came off a screen, caught the inbounds pass on the left wing, pump-faked to get the defender to fly by … and missed the jumper off the back iron.

It ended up being Carter’s final playoff appearance in a Raptors uniform. Four teams and 13 years later, an eerily similar opportunity ended up in hands of Carter, who has transitioned into a gray-bearded sixth man.

He popped out to the left corner, turned toward the basket with his heels raised safely above the sideline, pump-faked to get Manu Ginobili to fly by and launched a jumper. This one swished through the net as the red lights framed the backboard, giving the underdog Mavs the lead in a series they stretched to seven games, the Spurs’ toughest battle in that season’s title run.

“I can take that shot with confidence, and I can live with it,” Carter said minutes after the buzzer sounded and Dirk Nowitzki and the rest of the Mavs’ roster mobbed him.

“Sometimes you miss a big shot — 2001 — and you hold on to it for a while until you get the opportunity again. I’m just glad it worked out this time years later.” — Tim MacMahon