Whenever he retires— and it doesn’t seem like any time soon— Vince Carter will go down as the greatest dunker the NBA has ever seen.
Carter celebrates his 41st birthday today, and 20 seasons into his career, the eight-time all-star is still throwing it down:
As impressive as that is for a guy with nearly 1,500 games under his belt, it also makes us long for Carter’s prime, when he was a nightly highlight reel waiting to happen while fans around the world tuned in to see what he’d pull off next.
On Friday, the NBA released a video of Carter ranking his ten favourite dunks during his career. It’s a stunning display of the kind of electrifying athleticism and unique manoeuvring that launched Carter’s star (and in turn brought global notoriety to the Toronto Raptors franchise for the first time).
The dunks are, of course, stellar, but for my money the best part is watching and hearing how vividly he can recall them and the split-second decision-making process behind each one.
When I spoke to Carter for this oral history on his iconic 2000 dunk contest performance, what was supposed to be a relatively short interview turned into an in-depth, hour and a half long conversation. He clearly hadn’t tired of talking about that night in Oakland, and remembered every detail of what happened that night with pride and joy.
His commentary is condensed and likely cut for time in the NBA’s video, but the satisfaction over what he accomplished still comes through.
Without further ado, take a look at Carter’s top ten career dunks, as ranked by the man himself (Raptors fans may want to shield their eyes at number one):
For the record, although it didn’t crack his list, Carter’s best NBA dunk was actually one that didn’t happen:
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