Does Vince Carter deserve to be the 1st Raptor to have his jersey retired?

This weekend, basketball history will be made in Toronto. 

In a ceremony on Saturday at Scotiabank Arena, Vince Carter will become the first Toronto Raptor to have his jersey retired.

As the sun sets on No. 15 for Canada's only NBA team, fans and critics alike are looking back on the shooting guard's celebrated but complicated history with the Raptors.

Kayla Grey is a sports reporter and host of The Shift on TSN. Dalton Higgins is a culture critic and publicist based in Toronto. They join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to assess the impact Vince Carter has had on Toronto and pop culture writ large.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Kayla, what went through your mind when you heard that the Raptors are going to be retiring Vince Carter's jersey?

Kayla: "Finally," you know? 

Elamin: All right. 

Kayla: You know why I say "finally?" Because the Nets went ahead earlier, announcing that they were going to retire his jersey, which, yeah, sure, rightfully so. But if there was any franchise that should have come out with the announcement to set the tone for what this season was going to look like from a legacy standpoint, it should have been the Toronto Raptors. 

I'm around the same age as this franchise, so growing up and watching Vince and the exit, you know, it's like watching your parents get divorced. But you still love dad. Like, you didn't know the full story. So it's like, yeah, finally we can finally have a Christmas together and no one's going to be throwing hands.

Elamin: I'm so happy that you finally get your Christmas. I'm very thrilled for you.

Kayla: Thank you. Lots of therapy.

Elamin: This sounds like a long time coming, this particular Christmas.

This Saturday, the Raptors are going to be retiring this jersey, and he will be the first Raptor to receive that honour. Dalton, not everybody agrees with this decision, and part of the reason why is because of how his time at the Raptors ended. What happened at the end that left such a bad taste in some people's mouths? That made Kayla go, "This is a divorce, actually"?

Dalton: When he left it in 2004, it was not under the greatest of circumstances. There were tensions between him and the team's management. It's funny, even his mother, Michelle, was not too thrilled with how the Raptors front office was treating her son, you know what I mean? And she was very close to him. Everybody knew that. She was very hands-on. So like, once you piss off a player's mother, it's game over. It's time to go, you know what I mean? But he just felt like the Raptors' brass were not aggressive enough in trying to build a winner or to put the right pieces around him to win the division.

And then when he started to get injured, many critics felt that [the coaching staff] were sort of mishandling his rules and expectations. And then he kind of struggled to perform at the level that both he and fans expected, right? So he had to get out of here. Ultimately, he requests a trade and the Raptors trade him to the New Jersey Nets. This trade led to this lasting kind of resentment among some Raptor fans. Not me, mind you.

Elamin: How do you feel about him being the first Raptor to have his jersey retired? Does that feel appropriate to you, Dalton?

Dalton: Oh, it was 100 per cent the right call. I mean, you have to ask yourself: what are the other options? Is it Damon Stoudamire? No, he didn't stick around long enough. He was only here for a couple of years, although he was NBA Rookie of the year and he did his thing; he was averaging almost 20 points a game. 

You just go down the list, right? Is it Chris Bosh? No. When he went to the Miami Heat, that's when he started winning championships. He did lead Toronto to its first division title, but it couldn't be him. And then you just go down the list. It can't be DeMar DeRozan for obvious reasons, right? Let's put it out there: it was arguably because he got traded that we won the championship, right?

Elamin: Kayla making faces like, "I'm staying out of this one."

Kayla: He made the ultimate sacrifice, OK? He was the ultimate sacrifice. Show some love. 

Elamin: Not a DeMar panel. Let's just keep it focused on Vince for a moment. 

Dalton: They trade him, we win a championship. It can't be him…. I think Kyle Lowry might come the closest as far as receiving this distinction as he kind of ticks off all the boxes. He played here for nine seasons, culminated in an NBA championship. But I think him being the first Raptor to end up in the rafters would be, no. So it's obviously Vince Carter. Let's be real.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Ty Callender.