NBA Slam Dunk Champion Says He Tried Recruiting Only Once With Raptors

Vince Carter could be in the final year of his record-breaking 22 NBA seasons and there will be lots of tales to be told once his basketball career is over. He will be suiting up for the Atlanta Hawks this 2019-20 season, allowing him to surpass players like Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, Robert Parish and Kevin Willis who all played 21 seasons.

The 42-year-old former NBA slam dunk champion officially signed with the Hawks last August with most expecting him to call it a career after next season, ESPN reported. His role remains unknown. He could come off the bench and spell the younger starters of head coach Lloyd Pierce or perhaps even start at times if needed. Like most players who are nearing the end of their career, Vinsanity is expected to teach younger players on the team a thing or two.

Without question, Carter has achieved a lot in his 22-years in the NBA. Although it would have been grand for him to add an NBA title, getting that seems a bit farfetched with the Hawks. Had he joined a team like the Lakers, he would have had better chances. There were suggestions of such seeing how he could still be a contributor to the talent-laden squad. No deal materialized with Carter simply wanting to go out there and play.

Speaking of the Lakers, the fifth overall pick of the 1998 NBA Draft made an interesting revelation on the topic of recruiting. Since his Toronto Raptor days, Carter said in an interview with Sports Illustrated that he never recruited but did try to convince former Lakers big man Shaquille O'Neal to join the Raptors before.

"The only time I can recall is I tried to get Shaq to Toronto. I felt like it was close. It was tough at the time, just because … a lot of guys were like, What’s Canada about? It was tough to convince players that it’s a great place until they’re actually there. Even me, when I worked out for them, I didn’t really know what they had to offer until I was actually there," he said.

Carter never revealed which year this was although it was probably the time when O'Neal was the polarizing big man in the NBA. Had this materialized, a Carter-O'Neal tandem would have been something to watch and something that would have given him one glaring missing piece in his 22-year NBA career - the Larry O'Brien trophy.