It takes a lot of skill, hard work, and dedication to make an NBA roster. Anybody with any sense about the league will tell you that much as a fact.
So to play for 21 years straight, and continue playing at 43-years-old, takes someone extraordinary. Somehow, after making his NBA debut in 1998, former UNC guard Vince Carter is not only still hanging around the league but is getting significant minutes with the Atlanta Hawks this season.
To put things in perspective, with the changing of the decade, Carter is actually the only player in National Basketball Association history to play in four separate decades.
Vince Carter checks in to a standing ovation as he becomes the first player in @NBAHistory to play in four decades. pic.twitter.com/x5vjRJlb5G
— NBA (@NBA) January 5, 2020
He started off with the Raptors after being drafted 5th overall in 1998. It was there that he first blossomed into a star, making 5 All-Star teams, and being named to the All-NBA team twice. He averaged 23.4 points per game during his tenure there.
In the middle of the 2004-05 season, he was famously traded to the Nets, where he made his last All-Star team at 30-years-old in 2007. He averaged 23.6 points per game in his 5 seasons with New Jersey.
After his departure from the Nets, Carter became a nomad, moving to six different teams in a 10-year span including Orlando, Phoenix, Dallas, Memphis, Sacramento and, finally, Atlanta.
He hasn’t been a star in over a decade, but he has always brought value to his teams over the years. The fact that he is still finding a way to do that after 20+ years in the NBA just proves how special he is.
