Vince Carter retires after 22 year NBA career aged 43

Vince Carter made his retirement official on Thursday, announcing on his podcast that his 22-year NBA career has come to an end.

The announcement was largely a formality because the 43-year-old had said many times that this would be his last season in the NBA.

His 22 seasons are the most in league history, and he became the first NBA player to appear in four different decades.

Carter appeared in 1,541 NBA games, behind only Robert Parish (1,611) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,560) on the league’s all-time list.

He started his career with Toronto, then played for New Jersey, Orlando, Phoenix, Dallas, Memphis, Sacramento and spent his final two seasons with Atlanta.

His final season was shortened by the coronavirus pandemic, and the Hawks won't be part of the 22 teams headed to Florida, next month for the planned resumption of NBA play.

Carter scored 25,728 points in his career, 19th-most in NBA history.