Vince Carter Retires After Record 22 NBA Seasons

Atlanta Hawks guard Vince Carter has announced his retirement.

John Bazemore / Associated Press

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 Carter had said many times over the course of this season that this would be his last 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.