Call it half mural, half amazing.
The Raptors unveiled a painting of Vince Carter on a building in downtown Toronto on Saturday, hours before the club plans to retire his jersey.
Located at the intersection of Queen and Duncan, the mural depicts Carter during his iconic 2000 dunk contest performance, in a vintage purple jersey.
Carter and others reacted with applause when the curtain came down on his likeness.
The Hall of Famer, whose many nicknames included “half man, half amazing,” will be the first Raptor to have his jersey retired when his number is lifted to the rafters at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.
Toronto is set to take on DeMar DeRozan and the Sacramento Kings, another of Carter’s former teams, with tipoff at 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT. The ceremony is scheduled to take place at halftime.
The team also decorated the stands in anticipation of the event, using what appear to be t-shirts to spell out his number 15 on one sideline across from a silhouette of his famous between-the-legs dunk on the other.
Carter spent parts of the first seven years of his career in Toronto, winning Rookie of the Year in 1998-99 and appearing in five All-Star games as a Raptor.
Now 47, Carter would go on to play an NBA-record 22 seasons in the league. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last month.
