Hawks veteran Vince Carter plans to return next season as a player with hopes of extending his career to 22 NBA seasons, he said Thursday night on ESPN’s Pardon The Interruption.
Carter, who turned 42 in January, will formally evaluate the situation in the summer but made it clear he wants to return for the 2019/20 season.
“I think I could stretch it out one more [year],” Carter said. “At the end of the year, I usually assess from top to bottom to see how I’m feeling. And, obviously, opportunity — when the phone call rings and teams show interest, that’s a good thing.”
Carter, widely considered to be one of the game’s all-time great dunkers, has averaged 7.1 points, 2.5 rebounds and 16.6 minutes per game, shooting 44% from the floor and a career-high 41% from 3-point range on the season. He’s appeared in 61 of Atlanta’s 66 games.
Carter was selected with the No. 5 pick in the 1998 draft and has made stops with Toronto, New Jersey, Orlando, Phoenix, Dallas, Memphis, Sacramento and Atlanta across his two-decade journey. For comparison’s sake, future Hall-of-Famer Dwyane Wade — drafted five years after Carter with a long, storied career of his own — is set to retire at season’s end. The same could be said for veteran Channing Frye, who was drafted seven years after Carter.
For the Hawks, Carter will reach free agency on July 1. He signed a deal to join the team last summer, using his veteran leadership and experience to help their young group throughout the season.
“Me, personally, I think I could give it another year, so why not?” Carter said. “We’ll see what happens.”
I hope VC comes back, still has a lot left in the tank
Some of you might missed prime Vince Carter.
Play for as long as you can defy Father Time, Vince.
link to m.youtube.com
Was so awesome watching him and D-Wade go back and forth in the 4th quarter in their last meeting. I used to practice that VC rip through fadeaway all the time when I was a kid. He has always been one of my favorites
He’s still contributing. Another year? Go for it Vince.
Man, good for him!
I remember when he hurt his knee in Toronto, and people were wondering if he’d be able to play much longer – assuming the knee injury would rob him of some of his athleticism.
They were very, very, very wrong.
It’s super impressive how he continues to prepare his body and contribute.
For me he’s the best dunker of all time. Just audacious, creative, graceful and nasty all at once.
His dunk contest repertoire will never be topped.
When was it that he left the Marines?
He’s in the conversation, but I find most “dunk analysts” suffer from recency bias. Either too young to have seen or too old to remember just how good Julius Erving was…or David Thompson, or even Darryl Dawkins…
Vince and Dirk should return for another season and become the only players in NBA history to appear in 4 different decades (assuming their deals are guaranteed and aren’t waived before Jan. 1st 2020)
Carter is still contributing at a good level and I’d love to see him continue one more year. But Dirk doesn’t really seem to have anything left in the tank. He’s been too good, he should call it a day and have his jersey retired.
Come back to the Nets Vince!