With the fifth overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft, the Golden State Warriors selected Vince Carter from the University of North Carolina. On February 5, 1999, Carter made his NBA debut…with the Toronto Raptors. This is how the story of the man known as “Air Canada,” “Vinsanity,” and “Half-Man, Half-Amazing” began.
After he burst onto the scene with the Raptors, Vince Carter instantly became a household name. He took home Rookie of the Year honors in 1999, and he lit up arenas with high-flying aerial displays, which quickly earned him accolades as one of the most feared dunkers in the league. In 2000, he put the Association on his back and single-handedly made the Slam Dunk Contest relevant again.
From his first home in Toronto to his current residence in Memphis, VC has played for six different NBA teams and earned eight All-Star nods. He’s put Tim Duncan and Alonzo Mourning on posters, and he put USA basketball front and center with a dunk of epic proportions at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
Today, Vince Carter turns 38, and while he may not be quite at the level he once was, there’s still plenty of juice in Vinsanity’s tank. From his jam on Dikembe Mutombo to his rookie initiation of Jusuf Nurkic, check out our Year-by-Year Vince Carter Dunk Retrospective.
Written by Adam Silvers (@silversurfer103)