Vince Carter Plans To Retire After 2019/20 Season

June 5th 2019 at 3:12pm CST by Luke Adams

After announcing in April that he intends to return for the 2019/20 season, Vince Carter has now confirmed that next season will be his last in the NBA. Carter made the announcement during an appearance on The Jump on ESPN (video link via Chris Montano of DefPen).

“I’ve got one more [year] in me,” Carter said, later confirming to Rachel Nichols that he doesn’t plan to play beyond ’19/20.

Despite turning 42 in January, Carter continued to be a productive rotation player in Atlanta in 2018/19, averaging 7.4 PPG and 2.6 RPG with a .419/.389/.712 shooting line in 76 games (17.5 MPG) for the Hawks. Head coach Lloyd Pierce also praised the veteran swingman for helping to create a “different atmosphere” in the Hawks’ locker room.

Carter will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, so he’ll need to sign a new contract with Atlanta or catch on with a new team once the new league year begins.

Assuming he doesn’t have any trouble finding an NBA contract, Carter will become the first player in league history to play for 22 seasons, breaking the record that he and Dirk Nowitzki tied this season. Robert Parish, Kevin Willis, and Kevin Garnett also had 21-year NBA careers.

Over the course of his 21 NBA seasons, Carter has averaged 17.2 PPG, 4.4 RPG, and 3.2 APG with a .437/.374/.798 shooting line in 1,481 games for the Raptors, Nets, Magic, Suns, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Kings, and Hawks. He has also appeared in another 88 postseason contests, averaging 18.1 PPG in those games. Carter ranks 20th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.