To rejoice Vince Carter‘s election into the Basketball Corridor of Fame final weekend, the Toronto Raptors has launched a brand new graphic honoring the person largely chargeable for placing the Raptors on the map within the NBA.
The graphic is an epic throwback to the early days of the franchise, to Carter’s first years in Toronto. It reveals the purple fowl of prey dinosaur, each of which had been a part of the unique Toronto Raptors brand And the primary Raptors uniform (which Vince wore in his rookie season), performing Carter’s legendary dunk from the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk contest. The dinosaur is depicted clothed the identical purple and black Raptors uniform model that Carter wore when he carried out the stunt, the identical because the membership’s road look from 2000 to 2006. This general design is trimmed in gold, which was not current on the unique brand.
STORE: Retro-inspired Toronto Raptors t-shirts and extra from Homage
Followers instantly fell in love with this design, with feedback on social media displaying near-universal reward, and lots of calling for this model to return to the Raptors full-time:
In fact, there have been a couple of who bear in mind how this general brand and uniform look was perceived when it was truly worn, which was not optimistic:
Individuals actually do not bear in mind how the group received eviscerated within the Nineteen Nineties for having this as their unique brand?
— RANGERS ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS (@RowdyCMoore) April 7, 2024
They’re completely proper. I despised the unique Raptors uniform on the time, despite the fact that I used to be a 12 12 months outdated from Toronto, which was the precise demo this whole bundle was made for. In fact, nostalgia is a strong beast; Right here in 2024, now as a person in my 40s (wait, when did *that* occur?), I would wish to see the Raptors return to purple full-time with a modernized model of the unique Raptors jersey, perhaps often behaved in its place choice.
CLUTCH: Toronto Raptors full brand and uniform historical past
CLUTCH: Vince Carter’s full profession brand and uniform historical past
For what it is value, I noticed this brand making the rounds behind the scenes about three months in the past. The rumblings on the time advised this picture was created for the Raptors 2024/25 Metropolis Version uniform or to be launched alongside a throwback uniform to rejoice the membership’s thirtieth season.
Sadly, I can not verify that this brand or the 2000-2006 uniform can be used within the recreation subsequent season (my suspicion is that the membership will put on the uniform as a throwback), however I *can* at the very least verify that this Raptor/Vince The Carter Dunk brand can be featured Raptors merchandise someday between now and subsequent season. So I’ve to say it is a good signal that we are going to see it on the sphere a technique or one other.