Emotional Carter acknowledges contentious exit from Toronto as Raptors retire former star's jersey

TORONTO (AP) — An emotional Vince Carter acknowledged his contentious exit from Toronto as his No. 15 jersey became the first number retired by the Raptors in a halftime ceremony during Saturday’s game against Sacramento.

“It’s not just Carter 15 going up, it’s all of us going up,” Carter told fans before a banner with his name and number was lifted to the rafters. “The memories, however you view it, goes up tonight. I hope and pray we enjoy our jersey being retired forever together.”

Carter walked to center court to begin the ceremony and gestured with his hands to request cheers from the crowd, and then balled his fists and roared “Come on!” before saluting the response.

Former Toronto teammates Tracy McGrady, Antonio Davis, Kevin Willis, Charles Oakley, Morris Peterson, Dee Brown, Jerome Williams, Alvin Williams and Muggsy Bogues joined Carter, his family and Raptors president Masai Ujiri on the court for the ceremony.

“He taught us how to fly,” Ujiri said in introducing Carter to the cheering crowd.

Carter had to pause several times to control his emotions or dab at tears during a pregame press conference. At one point, speaking about his family, a tearful Carter beckoned his young son Vincent Jr. to join him at the podium for an embrace.

The only player in NBA history to play in four decades, Carter spent the first six-plus of his record 22 seasons with the Raptors. He was the 1999 Rookie of the Year in his first season and an All-Star and the Slam Dunk champion in his second, when Toronto made the playoffs for the first time.

Swept out of the first round by the Knicks in his first postseason, Carter and the Raptors returned to the playoffs the following spring and upset New York by winning Game 5 at Madison Square Garden.

Before Saturday’s game, Carter recalled that series victory as one of the best memories of his time in Toronto.

“Going through what (former Knicks coach) Mr. Jeff Van Gundy put me through with his defense, I was excited to have that opportunity to go against that defense again,” Carter said.

Carter is credited for impacting basketball across Canada, influencing a generation of future NBA players such as Tristan Thompson, former Raptors guard Cory Joseph and current Raptors forward Kelly Olynyk.

“The legacy is still growing,” Carter said. “This is the icing on the cake.”

Thompson was one of several players, including Stephen Curry and former Raptors Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, to record a congratulatory message for Carter in a video that played before the on-court ceremony.

“I wouldn’t be here without you,” Thompson said.

Early on in his Toronto tenure, Carter earned the nickname “Air Canada” for his high-flying dunks. As injuries mounted and his production declined, Carter faced criticism from fans for becoming less aggressive when he settled for jumpers rather than driving and drawing contact.

In December 2004, Carter was traded to the Nets for Alonzo Mourning, Eric Williams, Aaron Williams and a pair of first-round draft picks. Mourning never played for Toronto.

For years, there was anger and animosity from Raptors fans toward Carter after he pushed to be traded out of Toronto.

A decade on from that deal, the relationship-mending began when Carter visited Toronto with the Memphis Grizzlies on Nov. 19, 2014. The Raptors, who were celebrating their 20th anniversary that season, honored Carter with a tribute video during a first-quarter timeout.

Speaking in the halftime ceremony, Carter called it “a day I’ll never forget.”

Although a few fans booed as the montage began that night, most of the sellout crowd of 19,800 soon stood and cheered. An emotional Carter raised his arms, tapped his heart and wiped tears from his eyes.

During his pregame press conference Carter was overcome with emotion again as he recalled watching that video almost a decade ago.

“It’s something about seeing those highlights in this building, because that’s where it was created,” he said.

Carter retired in 2020 at age 43. Last month, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Earlier Saturday, a mural of Carter was unveiled in downtown Toronto. In September, the Raptors unveiled a revitalized Vince Carter Court at a Toronto park.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter reacts during his number retirement ceremony at halftime of an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter reacts during his number retirement ceremony at halftime of an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter reacts during his number retirement ceremony at halftime of an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter reacts during his number retirement ceremony at halftime of an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter reacts while hugging his mother, Michelle Carter, during his number retirement ceremony at halftime of an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter reacts while hugging his mother, Michelle Carter, during his number retirement ceremony at halftime of an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter hugs his son, Vince Carter Jr., after speaking to media ahead of his number retirement, before an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings at the Scotiabank arena in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter speaks to media ahead of his number retirement, before an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings at the Scotiabank arena in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter speaks to media ahead of his number retirement, before an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings at the Scotiabank arena in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter speaks to media ahead of his number retirement, before an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings at the Scotiabank arena in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter speaks to media ahead of his number retirement, before an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings at the Scotiabank arena in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter is consoled by his son, Vince Carter Jr. while overcome by emotion when speaking to media ahead of his number retirement, before an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings at the Scotiabank arena, in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter speaks to media ahead of his number retirement, before an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings at the Scotiabank arena in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter is consoled by his son, Vince Carter Jr. while overcome by emotion when speaking to media ahead of his number retirement before an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings at the Scotiabank arena in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter speaks to media ahead of his number retirement, before an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings at the Scotiabank arena in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter speaks to media ahead of his number retirement, before an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings at the Scotiabank arena in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter reacts during his number retirement ceremony at halftime of an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter reacts during his number retirement ceremony at halftime of an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter reacts during his number retirement ceremony at halftime of an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto Raptors player Vince Carter reacts during his number retirement ceremony at halftime of an NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

SAN FRANCISCO & JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--

Abridge, the leading enterprise-grade AI for clinical conversations, is collaborating with Availity, the nation’s largest real-time health information network, to launch a first-of-its kind prior authorization experience. The engagement uses cutting-edge technology grounded in the clinician-patient conversation to facilitate a more efficient process between clinicians and health plans in medical necessity review.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260112960386/en/

Rather than creating parallel AI systems across healthcare stakeholders, Abridge and Availity are working together to ensure shared clinical context at the point of conversation powers administrative processes, such as prior authorization review and submission, improving outcomes for patients and the teams delivering care.

This collaboration unites two trusted and scaled organizations: combining Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform, serving over 200 health systems and projected to support over 80 million patient-clinician conversations in 2026, with Availity’s next-generation, FHIR-native Intelligent Utilization Management solution, which helps payers and providers digitize and operationalize coverage requirements within administrative workflows.

Availity’s FHIR-native APIs enable fast, scalable, and secure connectivity of payer information across the entire healthcare ecosystem. With Abridge’s Contextual Reasoning Engine technology, clinicians can gain visibility into relevant clinical information during the conversation to support documentation aligned with prior authorization requirements.

“At Availity, we’ve invested in building AI-powered, FHIR-native APIs designed to bring clinical policy logic directly into provider workflows,” said Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity. “By embedding our technology at the point of conversation, we’re enabling faster, more transparent utilization management decisions rooted in clinical context. We’re excited to collaborate with Abridge and to demonstrate what’s possible when payer intelligence meets real-time provider workflows.”

The development of real-time prior authorization is just a component of a broader revenue cycle collaboration that is focused on applying real-time conversational intelligence across the patient, provider, and payer experiences. The companies intend to support integration by collaborating on workflow alignment between their respective platforms in the following areas:

“Abridge and Availity are each bringing national scale, deep trust, and a track record of solving important challenges across the care and claims experience to this partnership,” said Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge. “We’re building real-time bridges between patients, providers, and payers, unlocking shared understanding, focused at the point of conversation.”

About Availity

Availity empowers payers and providers to deliver transformative patient experiences by enabling the seamless exchange of clinical, administrative, and financial information. As the nation's largest real-time health information network, Availity develops intelligent, automated, and interoperable solutions that foster collaboration and shared value across the healthcare ecosystem. With connections to over 95% of payers, more than 3 million providers, and over 2,000 trading partners, Availity provides mission-critical connectivity to drive the future of healthcare innovation. For more information, including an online demonstration, please visit www.availity.com or call 1.800.AVAILITY (282.4548). Follow us on LinkedIn.

About Abridge

Abridge was founded in 2018 to power deeper understanding in healthcare. Abridge is now trusted by more than 200 of the largest and most complex health systems in the U.S. The enterprise-grade AI platform transforms medical conversations into clinically useful and billable documentation at the point of care, reducing administrative burden and clinician burnout while improving patient experience. With deep EHR integration, support for 28+ languages, and 50+ specialties, Abridge is used across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient.

Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform is purpose-built for healthcare. Supported by Linked Evidence, Abridge is the only solution that maps AI-generated summaries to source data, helping clinicians quickly trust and verify the output. As a pioneer in generative AI for healthcare, Abridge is setting the industry standard for the responsible deployment of AI across health systems.

Abridge was awarded Best in KLAS 2025 for Ambient AI in addition to other accolades, including Forbes 2025 AI 50 List, TIME Best Inventions of 2024, and Fortune’s 2024 AI 50 Innovators.

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation