There are few moments in the 30-year history of the Toronto Raptors as memorable as Vince Carter’s spectacle in the dunk contest of the year 2000.
The 360 degree windmill to start. The head-scratching hit that ended with half of Carter’s arm in the rim. And of course, the between-the-legs jam caught a rebound pass from her Raptors teammate and cousin, Tracy McGrady.
Toronto’s 2024-25 City Edition uniform, unveiled Thursday, pays homage to that iconic dunk with the original 1995 Raptors logo emulating the play. The uniform will also be celebrated with a neat statue at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Fans can visit Nov. 14-17 before it moves to Scotiabank Arena.
“This 30th anniversary is a season to celebrate the people and moments that have made this franchise what we are,” Raptors president and vice president Masai Ujiri said in a news release. “Is there a better example of that feeling than the image of Vince’s incredible dunk? It reminds us that we can inspire. It allows us to dream of flying. It’s proudly Toronto. And this uniform is unique in the league, just like the team and the fans who will wear it with pride.”
The team will debut the uniforms on November 21 against the Minnesota Timberwolves and will wear them five times during the season. There will also be a special cut to accompany the threads with a similar logo.
Working closely with the NBA and Nike, the Raptors’ idea of how to commemorate their 30th anniversary came to the fore in 2022, Shannon Hosford, MLSE’s chief marketing officer, told ESPN. He also agreed with the idea of retiring Carter’s jersey this season and how they could celebrate it in a meaningful way.
They exchanged thoughts with the NBA and Nike on initial concepts, but didn’t feel like they encapsulated what they wanted as a team. So they asked if they could take it to a local artist, Kevin Briones, and asked him about the Raptor doing the dunk, an idea that occurred to Toronto’s head of merchandise.
“As soon as we saw [the mockup]We knew it, that was all. We thought, that’s exactly what we want,” Hosford said. “We know no other team has done anything like this in terms of bringing an iconic moment from the team’s history to the front of the jersey. “Everything about it just spoke to us.”
The uniform includes all of Toronto’s brand colors over the years: purple, red, gold and silver. It’s the first jersey in franchise history to include just the shield with no text on the front.” It’s a decision, according to Hosford, because they felt that dunk “ignited a nation” and they wanted it to be for all the fans of the franchise. Raptors.
There are “tone-on-tone” pinstripes, a nod to the Raptors’ 1995 look. Toronto’s “We The North” motto appears above the jersey’s tag.
Hosford said Carter’s dunk changed the trajectory of Canadian basketball and the franchise. He also inspired a new generation of players, including members of the current Raptors roster.
“When they saw this, they were very proud to wear it. They speak highly of it,” Hosford said. “Everything about this, our team, our management and the players, they are in love with it.”
Little did Toronto know at the time that its uniform release would coincide with Carter’s induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame this year. The franchise wanted to make the jersey “an important part of our history and where we were going.”
“Landing on this design was very important to us,” Hosford said.
Carter had been part of the process and accepted it instantly. The uniform was one of the first things the Raptors thought about when planning how to celebrate this season.
During the press conference regarding his jersey retirement, Carter emphasized that all he wanted was a celebration of his time in Toronto. But he began to choke up when talking about the honor of being in a Raptors uniform, saying it’s equivalent to Jerry West’s silhouette being the NBA logo on a sock or a backboard.
“Do you know how big that is? Even if this day didn’t happen, wherever I was working, watching TV, I could watch a Raptors game with a picture of me dunking on my jersey…” saying. “That’s crazy. I see it as a Hall of Fame. I see it as a jersey retirement.”
