Vince Carter: From Daytona Beach to the Hall of Fame, retired jerseys and the NBA 2K cover

DAYTONA BEACH — The Call came on April Fools’ Day.

Vince Carter knew to expect it early in the afternoon.

He had already seen one prank pulled at his expense that morning. Rumors the Toronto Raptors would be retiring his jersey number circulated on social media, though Carter recognized those were false.

But when The Call arrived a few minutes after 12, Carter hesitated for a moment. An unknown number popped up. He answered.

“Welcome to the Hall of Fame,” Jerry Colangelo, the chairman of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, told him. “You’re in.”

“I hear him,” Carter said. “And it took everything in my soul not to say, ‘Are you sure?’ Just because it's April Fools’. So I waited a second, and then it kicked in.”

He was outside his house by himself. He put the phone down and reflected.

Vince Carter enjoying hall of fame inductions, jersey retirements and NBA 2K covers

Carter’s life right now is where two-plus decades of legendary basketball led him.

The Daytona Beach native and Mainland High School alum spent 22 seasons in the National Basketball Association.

He debuted with the Raptors in 1998 and captured the Rookie of the Year award. The following season, he earned an All-Star selection, his first of eight, and exploded to superstardom by winning the 2000 dunk contest.

The nicknames rolled in. Vinsanity, Half Man/Half Amazing, Air Canada.

In December of 2004, the New Jersey Nets traded for Carter. He stayed there until 2009, going to two more All-Star games and averaging more than 20 points per game each season.

Carter bounced around during his final decade in the league, filling valuable roles for six teams.

He partnered with Dwight Howard on an Orlando Magic squad that reached the conference finals. He eclipsed 20,000 career points as a member of the Phoenix Suns. He served as a 3-point sniper with the Dallas Mavericks. In Memphis, Sacramento and Atlanta, he drew rave reviews as a veteran sage, claiming the Twyman–Stokes Teammate of the Year Award in 2016 and the NBA Sportsmanship Award in 2020.

He retired at age 43 after the 2019-2020 season, in which he became the only NBA hooper to suit up in four different decades.

Carter holds the record for most seasons played and ranks third all-time in career games. He averaged 16.7 points per game.

“If you think all 22 years, the ups and downs, the yays and disappointments are all meshed into one,” Carter told the News-Journal earlier this month at his annual basketball camp .

“I look back at all 22, and I'm proud of it. I'm glad I was able to go through all of the things I was able to go through — good and bad — which led me to this honor.”

He was talking about his upcoming hall of fame induction after being voted in during his first year of eligibility. He will be officially enshrined Oct. 13 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

But the honors keep piling up for Carter.

In April, he learned he was headed to the hall. In May, the Brooklyn Nets told him they planned to retire his number and hang his jersey in the rafters next season. Finally, in mid-July, 2K Sports revealed Carter as one of three cover stars for the NBA 2K25 video game.

“It's been an emotional rollercoaster,” Carter said. “It’s so surreal ... Receiving that phone call that I was going to be a part of the hall of fame was like, ‘You sure? You serious?’ Watching that video to see that I was going to have my jersey retired with the Nets, I remember looking at that video like, ‘Really?’ Getting that phone call from 2K saying, ‘We want to have you as a cover athlete,’ it's just like, ‘What else can happen?’”

Who knows what’s next.

Carter remains active in the basketball scene. The 47-year-old works as a part-time broadcaster for Nets games on the YES Network and an alternate studio analyst for the NBA on TNT.

Vince Carter will go into Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in October

The weekend will be packed.

An autograph session, a press conference and an awards gala on Saturday. Then, on Sunday, a VIP reception, a red carpet show and the official induction ceremony.

Vince Carter will be enshrined shortly after 6 p.m. on Oct. 13.

He will assume his place among the greats. His photo and memorabilia will sit in the same facility as theirs.

And there’s one man whose presence hammered home that reality to Carter.

Julius Erving. Dr. J.

“I get to be in a room my hero is a part of,” Carter said. “Like, come on, man. Come on!”

He laughed.

“It doesn't get any better than that.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Vince Carter: From Daytona Beach to the Hall of Fame, retired jerseys and the NBA 2K cover