Vince Carter’s No. 15 will always hang in Brooklyn

Now, there will be a magnificent seventh jersey hanging from the rafters at Downtown’s
Barclays Center.

As in No. 15, Vince Carter.

The soon-to-be Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, awaiting his official enshrinement in
October, will have his jersey retired and hung above the Barclays hardwood at some point
next season, making him the seventh Net in franchise history to receive the honor.

“I think about coming into the league, trying to be the best player you can be, you’re going
through it, and then you go through a trade, and you get new life,” Carter said in a video
released by the team last week.

“Especially playing with somebody like (Jason Kidd), who is a Hall of Famer and a legend
up in the stands, as well.”

Kidd, who also coached here in Brooklyn, has his jersey up with former Nets legends
Julius Erving, Buck Williams, Drazen Petrovic, “Super” John Williamson and Bill
Melchionni.

Carter played in New Jersey from 2004-2009, three years before the team relocated to the
corner of Atlantic and Flatbush.

The only NBA player whose career spanned four decades, Carter averaged 23.6 points per
contest in 4 1/2 seasons with the Nets. He also set the team’s all-time single-season scoring
record with 2,070 points during the 2006-07 campaign.

“You made me look good, so congratulations,” Kidd said to Carter in a video the Nets
released along with the announcement.

“(Kidd) would jump in a foxhole with anybody at anytime,” Carter responded after
learning that his jersey would hang next to his former point guard’s No. 5 at Barclays. “It
was fun to play with that guy.”

Carter was well-decorated throughout his unprecedented career.

He was NBA Rookie of the Year in 1999, earned eight All-Star selections, won the league’s
coveted Slam Dunk Contest championship in 2000 and showed his value in other ways by
winning the league’s Sportsmanship Award in 2020 four years after he was named
Teammate of the Year.

Despite his limited tenure with the team, Carter ranks third all-time in scoring among Nets
and is in the top-10 in numerous other categories.

Though he came to Brooklyn from Toronto in 2004 after 6 1/2 seasons, the Raptors have
not yet revealed whether they would retire Carter’s No. 15.

He also played in Orlando, Phoenix, Dallas, Memphis, Sacramento and Atlanta following
his stellar career at the University of North Carolina.

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In other Nets news, new head coach Jordi Fernandez is reportedly continuing to fill out his
staff of assistants in Brooklyn.

The 41-year-old native of Baradona, Spain, who is coming off a successful two-year stint
as top associate to Mike Brown in Sacramento, has already brought in former Michigan
coach and Fab Five member Juwan Howard to go with Portland’s Steve Hetzel and
Deividas Dulkys of the Kings.

Assistant Connor Griffin is also headed to Brooklyn via Denver to join mainstays Ryan
Forehan Kelly and Corey Vinson.

Also, the Nets are retaining video coordinator Travis Bader.

Brooklyn went 32-50 last season, missing the playoffs for the first time in six years and
going through a pair of coaches in Jacque Vaughn and interim Kevin Ollie, respectively.