If James Dolan could go back and change history, Vinsanity would have starred on Broadway — not off the New Jersey Turnpike.
During a Thursday appearance on the “Roommates Show” podcast hosted by Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, Dolan, the team’s executive chairman, explained that the trade he wished he could go back and do would’ve been bringing Vince Carter to the Garden.
Apparently, the Knicks were going to complete a trade for the Hall of Famer, but team’s medical team told the front office that Carter had a “90 percent severed Achilles tendon and that it would never hold up,” Dolan said.
James Dolan says that the Knicks were on the verge of trading for prime Vince Carter, but his medical team said that Carter’s achilles was “90% severed.”
— KnicksMuse (@KnicksMuse) March 13, 2025
“Vince Carter went on to have five, six, seven [great] years… [jokingly] I kept waiting for his achilles tendon to break, it… pic.twitter.com/zq9tnXRwbL
James Dolan appeared on Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart’s podcast. Roommates Show/X“And once it ruptured, he’d never be the same player, and for that reason, we didn’t do the trade,” Dolan said, not specifying when the possible trade would have occurred.
The Knicks owner jokingly added: “Vince Carter went on to have five, six, seven years. I kept waiting for his Achilles tendon to break, it never broke.”
“Yup, we certainly dodged a bullet there, didn’t we,” Dolan said sarcastically.
James Dolan appeared on Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart’s podcast. Roommates Show/XOn Dec. 17, 2004, Carter was traded by the Raptors to the then-New Jersey Nets in a deal that sent Alonzo Mourning, Aaron Williams, Eric Williams and two first-round draft picks to Toronto.
In a video produced by the Nets that re-examined the trade that made Carter a Net, former vice president of public relations Gary Sussman recalled Carter’s shock about the return the Raptors had received in the deal.
Vince Carter dribbles the ball against Dwyane Wade of the Heat
on May 10, 2006 in Miami, Florida. Getty Images
Jalen Brunson on his podcast. Roommates Show/XThen-Knicks head coach Lenny Wilkens told reporters in 2004 that the Nets “gave up a lot of players.”
Carter played four-plus seasons with the Nets, appearing in 374 games and leading the team to the postseason three times.
He holds the franchise’s NBA record for single-season points with the 2,070 he recorded during the 2006-07 season, and sits third in Nets NBA history with 8,834 points.
The Nets retired Carter’s No. 15 on Jan. 25 this year.
