Vince Carter was born in Daytona Beach, Florida and was a McDonald's All-American Player in 1995 out of Mainland High School in Daytona Beach. Carter enjoyed tremendous popularity during his initial years in the NBA, especially after showcasing his incredible athletic abilities in the 2000 All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, which he competed alongside teammate Tracy McGrady. Hence on, he had been perenially the top vote-getter in the annual All-Star games. However, this took a change after the way he parted with the Toronto Raptors. Carter did not get enough votes to be a starter for the 2006 All Star Games held in Houston - but the starter, Jermaine O'Neal of the Indiana Pacers, was injured, allowing NBA Commissioner David Stern to select Carter as a starter for the 2006 NBA Eastern Conference All-Star Team.
He played college basketball at the University of North Carolina. He was then picked fifth overall in the 1998 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors and immediately traded to the Toronto Raptors for the rights to college teammate Antawn Jamison. He won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award for the 1998-99 season. Next year, Carter was selected to All-Star Team for the first time, and showcased his athleticism by amazing dunking abilities in the NBA Slam dunk contest. He did a 360� windmill, went through the legs, and was the first to stick his arm in the rim up to his elbow. The NBA 2000 Slam Dunk Contest is regarded as one of the best of all time. Though he has not competed in a slam dunk contest since, Carter has been an All-Star several times since then, and has been consistently voted into the starting lineup through fan balloting for the Eastern Conference NBA All-Star team.
During the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Carter performed one of the most memorable dunks in history when he flew over 7-foot-2 (2.18 m) French center Fr�d�ric Weis. Carter took off from just inside the foul line, spread his legs in midair, and slightly scraped Weis's head before slamming the ball home. The French media dubbed it "le dunk de la mort"�the dunk of death.
Carter is one of the lead advertisers of Nike Basketball, along with Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, cashing in on a 6 year, $60,000,000 U.S. deal signed in 2000. Since then, branded as a signature athlete, Nike has released performance basketball footwear the Nike Shox VC (and a low version), the Nike Shox VC II, the Nike Shox VC III, Nike Shox VC IV, and the Nike Shox VC V. Nike has placed Carter as the face for its Shox technology and the ambassador for the recently resurrected Flight Line of Nike basketball footwear.
On the morning of the day of Game 7 of the 2001 Eastern Conference playoffs (Raptors vs Philadelphia 76ers), Sunday, May 20, he attended his UNC graduation, in which Stuart Scott gave a graduation speech. In that game, Carter missed a game-winning shot with 2.0 seconds remaining [2]. In the summer of 2001 Vince signed a $94 Million, 6 year extension with the Toronto Raptors.
During the 2003 All-Star Game, despite the fact that he was voted as a starter, Carter gave up the spot to the Washington Wizards' Michael Jordan to allow Jordan to make his final All-Star appearance.
Carter's mother, often a spokesperson for her son, made it clear in the 2004 offseason that he wanted to be traded from the Raptors. Carter was traded to the New Jersey Nets on December 17, 2004 by the Raptors for Alonzo Mourning, Eric Williams, Aaron Williams and two future first-round draft picks. In early January 2005, the admission and following allegations that he tipped off the opposing Seattle SuperSonics (the Raptors' opponents on November 19, 2004) of an upcoming Raptors play by yelling "It's a flare! It's a flare!" to sabotage his own team.[3] Vince "came back home" as a member of the Nets on April 15, 2005 and admitted that he had missed the city of Toronto and said that when he got off his new "New Jersey Nets" plane and stepped onto Canadian soil, he thought to himself, "It's good to be home." Vince scored 39 points in front of what many considered the most hostile home crowd in Toronto Raptors history. The sellout crowd booed Carter mercilessly, chanted his name from the pre-game shootaround to the final buzzer, and many fans brought derogatory signs to express their frustration at Carter's apparent lack of effort in his final days as a Raptor. Carter was able to ignore the heckling of bitter Raptor fans and the Nets would ultimately prevail 101-90. Upon the conclusion of the match, Carter was seen clutching the game ball near the Nets' team bench while emphatically stating, "This is still my house!"
The resurrected Vince Carter would eventually guide the Nets to an eighth-place seed in the 2005 NBA Playoffs. While New Jersey would eventually be swept by the Shaquille O'Neal-led Miami Heat. Carter finished with averages of 26.8 points per game, 8.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists, highlighted by a buzzer-beating two point fadeaway shot in the 1st OT of Game Three that would force a second and deciding overtime.
On February 9, 2006, Carter was selected to play in the 2006 NBA All-Star Game in Houston, Texas as a reserve guard for the Eastern Conference. Carter started in place of forward/center Jermaine O'Neal, who was selected as starter but couldn't play due to injury.
The 2005-06 NBA season was another success for Vince Carter, as he co-led the Nets to 49 wins, an Atlantic Division title, and a number 3 seeded playoff position, while averaging 24 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists per game.
Vince has announced on his site that as of early February 2006, he no longer owns any private property in Toronto. However he remains the co-owner of Club Inside and recently opened the Kai Lounge - named after his daughter.
