Well, this sucks.
Vince Carter will not suit up for the Memphis Grizzlies tonight as they visit the Toronto Raptors, as Carter’s dealing with a hip strain.
With Carter approaching his 40th birthday and on the final year of his contract, most assumed this would be his final visit to Toronto. Carter’s still here, but he won’t suit up, so he won’t get the chance to rattle the Air Canada Centre rims one last time. (Or maybe he will – it’s not as if the league’s oldest player has confirmed he’s retiring yet.)
We’ll have to let this memory carry us for today.
Normally we’d just save a post like this for the pre-game news and notes, but it’s Carter. I might not be a basketball fan if it weren’t for him, and I’d imagine it’s the same for a lot of other people. That’s not entirely the case for DeMar DeRozan, but Carter was right there with Kobe Bryant at the top of his favorites and his must-see list.
I wrote a little about his 2016-17 resurgence for Vice the other week, and Carter is still averaging 9.3 points despite a drop-off in 3-point shooting. In 33 career games against the Raptors, Carter has averaged 17.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.6 assists.
This is also notable because it knock the Grizzlies down to just nine healthy players, most of them bigs. Things could get weird.
