DAYTONA BEACH, Fla -- Vince Carter doesn't have a ring, but he's an NBA champion in longevity and heart.
After all, Carter is doing what no other NBA great has done: He's returning for a 22nd grueling season.
Carter is the epitome of old-school in terms of respect and admiraration for the game, and has managed to stay ahead of father time, even at age 42, he still has that spring in his step, and has shown the ability to deliver a monster dunk every now and then.
Carter was tied with four others with 21 seasons played: Robert Parish, Kevin Willis, Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki.
Carter and Nowitski were the onluy active players in that group through 2018-'19 NBA campaign, with its plsayoffs now in full swing.
Novitski, the German-born forward who has played his entire 21-season career with the Dallas Mavericks, winning an NBA championship in 2011, announced at season's end that he would not return for a 22nd season, opting instead for retirement.
Novitski, 40, is an almost-certain first-ballot NBA Hall of Famer.
And while Novitski, a 7-footer, could shoot the 3 with the best of them, but his lanky frame took a lot of punishment, especially the pounding on his feet and knees.
Carter, on the other hand, has managed to stay relatively injury free and his aging knees have yet to defy Carter's greatest skill on the court - the art of the slam dunk.
Throuout his longevity, Carter has excelled on and off the court as well with his basketball camps and other youth programs back home here in Daytona Beach and in the communities at his various NBA teams along the way.
For his longevity, his on-the-court showmanship with an arsenal of aerial dunks second to none, his continuous off-the-court basketball camps for youth and for his overall character, Vincent LaMar Carter, by virtue of this profile story, is officially an inductee in the Class of 2019 Headline Surfer Hall of Fame.
For his longevity, his on-the-court showmanship with an arsenal of aerial dunks second to none, his continuous off-the-court basketball camps for youth and for his overall character, Vincent LaMar Carter, by virtue of this profile story, is officially an inductee in the Class of 2019 Headline Surfer Hall of Fame.