Toronto Raptors news: Even though 22-year veteran Vince Carter won’t be able to finish his career with the Raps, the franchise and the city of Toronto still has a special place in his heart.
Last season, Carter made it known that he wanted to play one more year in the NBA, but he wanted to do it with the Raptors. Unfortunately, the team didn’t even reach out to him in free agency, which led to him deciding to re-sign with the Atlanta Hawks.
Despite their blemished past, Vinsanity still had a lot of great things to say about the Raptors and Toronto. His love for the organization can be traced back to his early days in the NBA, when he tried to recruit Shaquille O’Neal to join him.
Yep, you heard that right. Carter revealed during an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Jacob Feldman that he tried to convince The Diesel to team-up with him in with the Raptors.
“I tried to get Shaq to Toronto. I felt like it was close. It was tough at the time, just because … a lot of guys were like, What’s Canada about? It was tough to convince players that it’s a great place until they’re actually there. Even me, when I worked out for them, I didn’t really know what they had to offer until I was actually there.”
Carter didn’t say when he tried to recruit Shaq but the only possible time that he could’ve done it was in 2004, after the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals. O’Neal was eventually traded to the Miami Heat while Vince himself was shipped to the New Jersey Nets during that year.
But imagine if Shaq and Vince indeed played together with the Raptors. They probably would’ve won at least one championship and they might’ve become an extremely fun tandem to watch. They wouldn’t have been better than the Shaq-Kobe duo in LA, but they would’ve done something special in Toronto.
Also, Carter would’ve retired long ago if he won a championship earlier in his career.
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