Former NBA star Vince Carter came under fire from the media a few times during his NBA career, and the most infamous instance came in 2001. Carter was criticized for attending his graduation ceremony at the University of North Carolina before Game 7 between the Toronto Raptors and the Philadelphia 76ers, and he spoke about that decision on Time Out at the Fanatics Fest.
“So, I come from a family of educators,” Carter said. “Everybody in my family are all school teachers. It’s student-athlete, not athlete-student. I was always taught that. And prior to me realizing when graduation was, I worked my butt off for that. I’m a professional player, but I went back to school every summer to finish my degree.
“So I am going to walk like everybody else,” Carter stated. “And hearing some of these professional people who walked across the stage to get their degree being critical about it, which was crazy to me. Okay, fine. I didn’t get a lot of support from the league.
“We always talk about read to achieve,” Carter continued. “We are always talking about student-athletes… Well, here it is, live in your face. One of your athletes is doing it. That’s fine too. The bigger goal is I made a promise to my mom that I would go back and get my degree if I left school early, which I did after junior year.
“I fulfilled it,” Carter added. “I’m going to finish the job. That was finishing the job for me. So I went to every player on that team, man to man, face to face, and said, ‘This is what I’ma do. This is when I am leaving. This is when I will be back. I’ll be prepared.’ Every player was like, ‘Bet. Long as you get back.'”
Carter graduated with a degree in Afro-American studies at 9 AM. He then boarded Raptors owner Larry Tanenbaum’s private plane to get back to Philadelphia for the do-or-die clash against Allen Iverson’s 76ers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. He claims to have gotten to the team meeting at their hotel before anyone else did.
Carter wanted to accomplish both of his goals that day and believes that was the greatest moment of his life. Unfortunately, that game wouldn’t go according to plan.
The 76ers narrowly won 88-87 to knock the Raptors out of the playoffs. Carter wasn’t quite at his best on the night, finishing with 20 points (6-18 FG), seven rebounds, nine assists, three steals, and two blocks. He had a chance to send the Raptors to the Conference Finals, but missed a game-winner at the buzzer.
Would Carter have played better if he hadn’t made that trip to Chapel Hill? It’s hard to say, but he inevitably got criticism, which was quite unfair. Iverson had a bit of a mixed outing too with 21 points (8-27 FG), four rebounds, 16 assists, two steals, and one block. It was just an extremely high-pressure situation.
Carter and the Raptors would never taste ultimate glory together. He asked for a trade in 2004, and the team sent him to the New Jersey Nets. Raptors fans booed Carter in the years that followed, but as they say, time heals all wounds. His jersey was retired in 2024, and he entered the Hall of Fame as a Raptor in 2025.
