NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� When Vince Carter鈥檚 preferred Nos. 6, 12 or 23 were not available as a freshman basketball player at Florida鈥檚 Mainland High School, he took some advice from his mother, Michelle.
鈥淢y mom told me: 'Find a number and make it famous,鈥欌�� Carter said.
Carter and his much-celebrated No. 15 reached new heights again when the Brooklyn Nets retired it at halftime of their game Saturday against the Miami Heat.
Carter鈥檚 family, his former Nets teammates, ex-coach Lawrence Frank, team president Rod Thorn and fellow Nets number retirees Julius Erving, Bill Melchionni and Buck Williams were on hand to see Carter become the seventh Nets player with his number retired.
鈥淭his is truly something my family and I will cherish forever,鈥� Carter said during the ceremony. 鈥淭o be the seventh number to go up is insane. It is an honor to be up there with you gentlemen.
鈥淣o. 15 Carter is going up there, but we鈥檙e going up there together.鈥�
Carter spent the game seated next to Erving, his boyhood idol. Former teammates Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson, and New York-area luminaries such as Eli Manning, Queen Latifah and rapper Fabolous sent congratulatory messages.
Carter鈥檚 number banner will live directly next to Kidd鈥檚 No. 5, which is fitting since they were drivers of one of the most successful eras in team history. Carter also credited Kidd for re-invigorating him after the Nets acquired him from the Toronto Raptors in December 2004.
鈥淭here was new life,鈥� Carter said of coming to New Jersey. 鈥淢y role in Toronto was just give me the ball, and I鈥檒l get you a (basket). But when I got here, they had a guy 鈥� he made the game easier for me.鈥�
Though he only played 374 games over four-plus seasons with the Nets, Carter holds the team's NBA record for single-season points (2,070 in 2006-07) and is third in the team鈥檚 NBA history in points (8,834). He ranks fourth in 3-pointers made (638) and playoff points (701).
He helped the Nets reach the postseason three times, and they twice won a playoff series before falling to the eventual Eastern Conference champions, Miami in 2006 and Cleveland in 2007.
鈥淒uring that era, they never were able to get over the top, so they鈥檒l probably never be recognized the way they should have been,鈥� said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who was a Miami assistant when it won the title in 2006. 鈥淭hat was a damn good basketball team, and (Carter) was a massive part of it.鈥�
Carter, who is in his first season as a Nets television analyst, retired in 2020 after an NBA-record 22 seasons at age 43 and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.
鈥淚 love seeing how his game evolved from when he first came in,鈥� Spoelstra said. 鈥淔rom just being a dunker to being an impossible (player to) guard 鈥� and then he was able to be one of the very few in this league that could transition gracefully. That鈥檚 really amazing. It speaks to the type of human being he is.鈥�
Despite playing 11 seasons after New Jersey traded him to Orlando in 2009, and spending time with eight NBA teams, Carter said some of his best days came with the Nets.
鈥淲e had fun, but we understood when it was time to lock in,鈥� Carter said. 鈥淲e hung out and actually enjoyed each other and played for each other, and that鈥檚 what made the game fun.
鈥淚 went out and did my job and had a darn good time doing it.鈥�
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AP NBA:
Pat Pickens, The Associated Press
