Vince Carter will return to the Atlanta Hawks ahead of the 2019/20 campaign, on a one-year deal that will see the 42-year-old break yet more records before the legend eventually retires.
Eight-time All-Star Vince Carter has agreed to a one-year contract, returning to the Hawks for his final NBA season. In doing so, the will play an NBA-record 22nd season, spending a second successive year mentoring one of the league’s youngest rosters, which includes seven players under 23-years-old and promising franchise star Trae Young.
He has alternated between the small forward and shooting guard positions since being drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 1998 – before being traded to the Toronto Raptors that same summer.
Carter’s Hawks return more than just sentimental value
During the 2018/19 campaign, he featured in a different role as the Hawks’ power forward, averaging 7.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists from 17 minutes a game.
He became the 22nd player in league history to score 25,000 points after a buzzer-beating slam dunk against former team Raptors during their 124-108 home defeat before Christmas.
His 41.9 FG% last term was the highest it’s been since 2012/13, while shooting a respectable 38.9% clip from three-point range. That has only been bettered in five of his 21 seasons as a professional, so it’s not as though his presence is solely sentimental value – Vince can still play at a high level.
Carter, who featured as an analyst on ESPN and TNT over the last year, is expected to spark a bidding war for his services once he does retire.
If, injury permitting, he does go on to play a game in 2020, Carter will become the first player in league history to appear in a game in four different decades per Elias Sports Bureau research.
Carter is one of the most popular players of his generation, once a dynamic above-the-rim performer who electrified the league enjoying his prime years with Toronto and New Jersey. He has averaged 17 points in 1,481 regular-season games and won an Olympic gold medal as well as the league’s dunk contest in 2000. The year beforehand, he was awarded the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award.
Information source: ESPN
