5. Vince Carter
Nets legend Vince Carter deserved a better farewell.
It’s truly upsetting to think that Vince Carter’s last season in the NBA was cut short due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The future Hall of Famer announced last week that he’s officially retired, after the Atlanta Hawks weren’t invited to the Orlando-based restart.
Carter’s career spanned a whopping 21 years and it’s fair to say that some of the best of those were spent with the New Jersey Nets, the team he played for from 2004-2009. Though they never won a championship with Carter and Jason Kidd leading the way as their superstar duo, some of the team’s fondest moments resort back to the former’s electrifying style of play. His ability to fill the stat sheet and enthralling knack to live above the rim made him an instant fan favorite.
In 374 games with the Nets, Vinsanity registered 24.6 points, 5.8 boards and 4.7 assists with .447/.370/.809 shooting splits. He made three All-Star teams during that span and his 8,834 points are good for third place in franchise history. Carter also ranks third in both plus-minus and three-pointers made (638), as well as fourth in both minutes per game (37.9) and player efficiency rating (21.0).
As far as accomplishments are concerned, the eight-time All-Star falls well short of the top three players to follow on this list. That’s nothing against Carter, either. He averaged over 20 points in each of his seasons with New Jersey. However, his lack of hardware lands him as the fifth-best player in Nets history.