It’s shaping out to be a star-studded and family affair at Vince Carter’s Hall of Fame induction in October.
The Toronto Raptors legend is set to be inducted into the Hall by presenters and fellow Pantheon members Julius Erving and Tracy McGrady, the Basketball Hall of Fame announced on Thursday.
The connection between Carter and McGrady is a storied one, as the players were two of the first big names to don the purple and red of the upstart Toronto Raptors in the late 1990s.
More than that, though, the two are second cousins — something they actually only learned about ahead of the 1997 NBA Draft when McGrady was picked ninth overall by Toronto.
Erving, meanwhile, along with being a fellow New York Nets star, is also one of the best high-flyers the game has ever seen, well-renowned as a gifted dunker predating the aerial antics of Carter.
Dr. J was also the first-ever winner of the dunk contest, winning the ABA’s inaugural exhibition event in 1976. Carter told Yahoo in 2019 that his meeting with Erving after his own legendary 2000 slam dunk contest win was his “Welcome to the NBA moment” and that he was one of his heroes growing up around the game.
Carter, who finished third all-time in games played with 1,541 over a storied 22-year NBA career, will, at last, see his likeness alongside his hero and cousin in the rafters of the hall in Springfield, Mass., when he’s presented the orange jacket on Oct. 12-13.
Next, it’s fair to wonder who will honour him if/when the Toronto Raptors finally decide to retire his No. 15 jersey to the rafters at Scotiabank Arena.