Vince Carter is the best basketball player the Raptors franchise has ever had if we are talking about strictly on-court talent. He is not that player anymore.

Even if the Sacramento Kings were to buyout Vince Carter, bringing him back to the Raptors would be more of sentimental thing than anything else. This season, Carter’s true shooting is under 50% and offensively he’s been a negative player this season. On the flipside, defensively Carter has been fine, but he isn’t exactly shutting down any superstars.

^{Vince Carter's Traditional Stats This Season}

YEAR	GP	MPG	FG%	3PM	3P	FT	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TPG	PPG
2017-18	35	16.8	38%	0.9	35.5%	66.7%	2.1	1.1	0.9	0.6	0.5	4.9

^{Advanced Stats}

YEAR	ORtg	DRtg	TS	OBPM	DBPM	VORP	ORPM	DRPM
2017-18	100	110	49.4%	-1.7	0.8	0.2	-1.17	0.72

Minutes

If Vince Carter were to return to the Raptors there aren’t minutes readily available for him. As it is the Raptors have good bench players that don’t play enough. Plus, when the Raptors enter the playoffs the rotation will likely get tighter which means even fewer minutes for bench players so the starters can play more. The Raptors only have 240 minutes to dole out. If Vince Carter were to play on the Raptors come playoff time he would likely be taking minutes away from one of Fred VanVleet, Delon Wright, CJ Miles, OG Anunoby, or Norman Powell. All those players are currently better than Carter. Yes, you can say Norman Powell is struggling this season and you are correct. However, he’s been a huge factor in the playoffs in his first two seasons in the NBA. Are you going to doubt Norm doesn’t come up with at least one momentum-changing stop or transition dunk like he did in the Pacers series two years ago? And then there’s also the possibility he gets hot from three like he did against the Bucks last year.

Are you feeling stressed out? Do you need a laugh? Don’t worry I got your back.

Repairing a Legacy

If Vince Carter wants his jersey retired by the Toronto Raptors he has to return to the Toronto Raptors. However, the Raptors don’t owe him this. Carter didn’t leave the Raptors on the best of terms. At first, he said he wasn’t going to dunk anymore. Kind of an odd thing to say when you are athletically gifted as Carter, but okay. Next, he demanded a trade. This is where the body blow was dealt. The Raptors had fans prior to Vince Carter, but he made them fun and exciting to watch. Damon Stoudamire was exciting in his own right, but not to any level close to Vince Carter. When you demand a trade and it becomes public knowledge the team you demanded to be moved from generally gets hosed. And that’s exactly what happened to the Raptors. In fact, it was one of the worst trades in NBA history.

To Nets	To Raptors
Vince Carter	Eric Williams
	Aaron Williams
	Alonzo Mourning (Didn't Report)
	Draft Pick (Joey Graham)
	Draft Pick (Later Dealt Away)

Possible Compromise

Instead of giving Vince Carter a roster spot and pretending like he can help the Raptors contend why not just give him a job in the organization when he retires? Drake currently has the title of global ambassador. He shows up to Raptors games when he feels like it, but worse than that he’s been caught supporting other NBA teams. I get that pandering to other cities by wearing a jersey of the city he’s in will help sell music, but then don’t have a partnership with the Toronto Raptors. Vince Carter belongs in the role of global ambassador. American media actually took notice of the Raptors when Carter played in Toronto. He made us global. And now there are Raptors fans all around the world.

Vince Carter isn’t going to help the Raptors in the playoffs. He’s had a fantastic career and it’s coming to a close. If Carter wants a job with the Raptors organization after he retires it should be something that is considered, but please don’t bring him back as a player as a marketing gimmick to sell jerseys.