Vince Carter FAQ: Everything you wanted to know about VC

Is Vince Carter the greatest dunker ever? Why did he quit on the Raptors? What was the best version of VC? Our Vince Carter FAQ has all your answers.

Vince Carter was one of the most explosive leapers the game had ever seen, one giant quick-twitch muscle waiting to fire. But after 22 seasons, he finishes his career having been a bit of everything — a star, a dunker, a scorer, a role player and a veteran leader. The Carter you know now is not the Carter he used to be. And the Carter you half-remember from way-back-when … did he really exist?

You have Vince Carter questions and we have the answers.

Is Vince Carter the greatest dunker of all time?

Reasonable people can disagree but I think the answer is a resounding yes. Players like David Thompson and Dr. J will get more credit for their role in creating the modern dunk, and players like Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins will get more credit for expanding the art form and fully legitimizing it. But I don’t know that any of them could match Carter’s complete dunking package.

Carter proved in 2000 that no one could top him in creativity and execution in the Dunk Contest format, which is, admittedly a different skillset from dunking in games. But Carter is among the greatest in-game dunkers of all-time as well. He could do it all, from graceful reverses and 360s, to powerful two-hand slams over and on top of some his generations best rim protectors. Not much work has been done dividing the world of dunks into a clear taxonomy but Carter’s repertoire, which is enough to fill several different versions of a top-100 dunk mixtape, covers it all.

Yeah, but could Vince Carter do anything besides dunk?

Carter scored 25,728 points in his career (19th-most all-time) and most of them did not come on dunks. He shot 37.1 percent on 3-pointers for his career and is currently sixth on the career list for most 3-pointers made. Carter’s career averages are a bit depressed by his lengthy second-act as a veteran role player but across the 11 seasons he played with Toronto and New Jersey, he averaged 23.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He wasn’t necessarily known for his defense but he’s also third on the all-time list for blocks by players listed at 6-foot-6 and under, trailing only Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley.

So yes, dunking may have been the thing he was best at. But at this peak, Carter was a dynamic all-around scorer with playmaking versatility. And then coming off his peak, he was reborn as a 3-and-D wing, and then power forward. He was much more than a dunker.

What’s the greatest Vince Carter dunk of all-time?

Again, I consider the Slam Dunk Contest to be an entirely separate sport, only tangentially related to actual in-game dunking, so everything from the 2000 contest is out. We’re only counting dunks that occurred in, over and around actual defenders. Which brings us to the obvious No. 1:

Honestly, this might be the best in-game dunk of all time by any player. Yes, it occurred in the Olympics but Frederic Weis, who he jumps over, wasn’t just some stiff. Weis, who was 7-foot-2, was selected No. 15 by the Knicks in the 1999 NBA draft. Although he never opted to come over to the NBA he had a solid European career.

The dunk is incredible both as a physical feat — leaping so far from the basket and completely clearing a 7-foot-2 obstacle — and a social construct of disrespect. Nevermind the hand, and onions, to the face of Weis, has any basketball player been rendered more athletically irrelevant in the blink of an eye?

While this is the clear answer, it’s not the only candidate.

There is Carter destroying a Hall-of-Fame shot-blocker:

Destroying another Hall-of-Fame shot-blocker:

Or whatever the heck you want call this:

Is Vince Carter a Hall-of-Famer?

Yes.

Which Vince Carter version was better — Toronto or New Jersey?

This is like deciding between dinner at Mad Taco or Mary’s Inn at Baldwin Creek, it just depends on what you’re in the mood for. The former (Toronto/Mad Taco) is explosive, flavor and style for days. It’s vicious dunks, homemade tortillas and slow-cooked pork shoulder, local double IPAs and step-back 3-pointers fueled by pure emotion. The latter (New Jersey/Mary’s) still has a rustic aesthetic but it’s steeped in refinement and tradition. It still has dunks, but also an unstoppable post-game. It’s beet-avocado tartar and handcrafted cocktails, soft floaters and roast duck with ginger rice and a blackberry gastrique. It’s not just here to overwhelm, it has a sense of place and purpose.

The numbers are pretty much the same. Go with what suits you and either way you’re getting something incredible.

Why did Vince Carter quit on the Toronto Raptors?

Carter started his career with the Raptors, giving the franchise their first real look at a competitive hometown team. The Raptors joined the league for the 1995-96 season and drafted Carter after their third season. He would lead them to the playoffs for the first time in his second season, the franchise’s fifth. Five years later, he was traded to the Nets.

The trade stemmed from Carter’s clear frustration with team management and a lack of effort on the court that was painfully obvious. At Raptors Republic, Blake Murphy offers a nice summation of the chaos:

"Now, the exact history on Carter’s trade demand and “quitting on the team” is something that gets disputed often. We know he asked for a trade at some point, but there have also been stories that Carter then backed off his demand, only for then-general manager Rob Babcock to dig in and trade him anyway. Regardless of the specifics, he asked out, and that’s something many fans won’t forgive.“It’s time for the truth: I want to be traded, I’m ready to be traded. First and foremost, this has nothing to do with the fans or the city, it’s just time for me to look after me.” – Vince Carter, 2004.That’s a tough quote for any fanbase to accept, and it wasn’t made easier when his quotes from a 2005 TNT interviewed were misconstrued as him saying he quit on the team (in reality, he said he could have pushed himself harder and that he largely relied on his talent, still not forgivable but not the same thing)."

As to why he was frustrated, Rob Babcock didn’t exactly do a masterful job building around Carter. They traded Tracy McGrady to the Magic. The year after they took Carter, the Raptors traded the No. 5 pick in the draft (Jonathan Bender) to the Pacers for Antonio Davis. With the No. 12 pick, they took Aleksandar Radojević, who played a grand total of three games for the Raptors. Davis was a solid player who had some very good years for Toronto and definitely helped improve the team in the short-term. But on the long-term upside, it was not great value for Toronto. And then there is the rest of their draft history…

With their other first-round picks in the Carter era, the Raptors took Morris Peterson, Michael Bradley, Kareem Rush (traded for Linsey Hunter), Chris Bosh and Rafael Araujo. Bosh was a no-brainer and Peterson was solid, but those selections also left players like Michael Redd, Zach Randolph, Gilbert Arenas, Tayshaun Prince, Andre Iguodala and Josh Smith on the table. It can’t have felt great to Carter to watching those guys thriving elsewhere when they could have been his teammates.

There’s certainly more to the story. Maybe with more time on his hands, we’ll finally get to hear Carter tell it completely.

How good was Vince Carter in college?

Hindsight is 20-20 and looking back at the 1998 NBA Draft, Carter, Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce stand head and shoulders above the rest. But not only was Carter taken fifth, he wasn’t even the first player taken from his college team. That honor went to Antawn Jamison at No. 4 — although this is all a technicality since the Raptors had their eyes set on Carter the entire time but drafted Jamison at No. 4 and traded him to the Golden State Warriors for Carter and some cash.

Still, Jamison, the reigning player of the year, was seen as the safer prospect. And, Jamison wasn’t the only player on UNC who had more offensive primacy than Carter. Shammond Williams, a sweet-shooting guard, also averaged more points and shot attempts in Carter’s junior season. In fact, considering how much the ball was in the hands of Ed Cota, a traditional floor general who averaged 7.4 assists per game for the Tar Heels, you could argue that Carter was often the fourth option on that team.

Still, Carter averaged 15.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game, shooting 59.1 percent from the field and 41.1 percent on 3-pointers. He hadn’t fully grown into his skills or his physical tools yet, but he was clearly something special. I mean, there is a six-minute highlight video of just his college dunks.

Who is the weirdest teammate Vince Carter ever had?

A recent NBA Reddit post calculated that Carter has played with or against 1,672 players. That is, incredibly, 37 percent of all the players who have ever played in the NBA. It’s a perfect set-up for a round of Six Degrees of Vince Carter but it also means we need to separate his weird teammates into categories because there are so many to choose from.

Former or future Slam Dunk Contest competitors (12): Dee Brown, Tracy McGrady, Antonio Davis, Doug Christie, Richard Jefferson, Darrell Armstrong, Dwight Howard, Jason Richardson, Hakim Warrick, Tyrus Thomas, Chris Andersen, John Collins

Former or future NBA MVPs (3): Hakeem Olajuwon, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki

Who the eff is that guy?(♾): Negele Knight, Reggie Slater, Aleksandar Radojević, Kornél Dávid, Jermaine Jackson, Chris Jefferies, Zendon Hamilton, Nate Huffman, etc.

What is Vince Carter’s net worth?

For his career, Spotrac estimates Vince Carter’s career basketball earnings to be just over $172 million. With retirement looming that’s probably it for basketball dollars but his endorsement portfolio has always been heavy and probably could continue to be. He’s been a Nike athlete since the summer after his rookie season and he’s notoriously smart about his finances. In a 2018 Q&A with USA Today, he talked about putting himself on an allowance:

"Put yourself on an allowance, which sounds crazy obviously but I think particularly in your first contract you want to make sure you’re above water to even make it to your second contract where you can live comfortably and a lot of these guys who are going to get drafted today are going to live comfortably obviously but you still need to save it.For all the contracts that are guaranteed, that doesn’t mean it’s going to last you.That’s what I was told. Put yourself on a budget.My mother is a business major and that’s her thing and I have an accountant, a great accountant, to this day even. We haven’t annoyed each other to where we have separated so he’s always been in my corner.There’s tough lessons to learn in the beginning and he’s like ‘enjoy your life but being frugal is not a bad thing.’"

What’s the greatest Vince Carter meme ever?

If you search Vince Carter on KnowYourMeme.com no results are returned. I guess that’s the product of having the bulk of his career being played in the pre-Twitter days. But lean back and close your eyes. What’s the first image you see when you hear the name Vince Carter.

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It’s this, right?