‘I WANTED VINCE’: Kyle Lowry tried to get Vince Carter to retire a Raptor

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There could have been a reunion between Vince Carter and the Toronto Raptors, thanks to Kyle Lowry.

In 2004, a disgruntled Vince Carter requested a trade from the Raptors and if you recall, when he returned to the Air Canada Centre the following year in a Nets uniform, he was heavily booed and jeered – something that went on for many seasons.

But time passed, and at one point, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, then-Raptor Kyle Lowry was trying his darndest to get Carter to re-sign with the Raptors.

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“I don’t know if anybody knew this but I tried to get Vince back with us (Raptors) at one point,” Lowry said on the VC Show with Vince Carter podcast. “I wanted Vince. I was trying.”

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Carter laughed but confirmed it went down.

“We had conversations,” Carter said with a laugh.

Lowry explained they were working on trying to “get that done,” adding, “I tried to get Vince back with us. I was one of the biggest advocates to try to get him back in Toronto and Vince was all in.”

While some fans still hold a grudge against the now-retired Carter, it’s hard not to imagine how things would have panned out if he decided to put on a Raptors jersey once more. He was the first true icon of the franchise and helped put Canada on the NBA’s map.

The move reportedly would have happened in time for the 2018-19 season, but the Sacramento Kings signed him to a one-year, $8-million contract.

Though Lowry claims the organization was interested, Sportsnet reported the opposite, at the time, and the team signed Jeremy Lin.

Carter also went on to play for the Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies and Atlanta Hawks.

Carter’s final game was on March 11, 2020, right before the league shut down due to the pandemic. He officially retired to little fanfare a few months later.

Meanwhile, Lowry went to the Miami Heat in 2021, in a sign-and-trade exchange for Goran Dragic and Precious Achiuwa.