Former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner is essentially just Vince Carter, isn't he?
The once beloved Toronto Raptors star turned into a heel when he quit on the team and forced his way out of Toronto. Carter made the team relevant, guided them to the second round of the playoffs, but was ultimately traded to the New Jersey Nets for nothing.
Vansanity (as he was nicknamed) was one not only the most popular player on the Raptors but was one of the most popular players in the NBA. He was the best dunker in the league, as highlighted by the famous 2000 NBA Dunk Contest and he made everyone in Toronto proud that he was ours.
Drafted No. 5 overall in the 1998 NBA Draft, Carter transcended the game of basketball and there was so much excitment around the potential of this franchise before it came to a scratching halt. The hatred started when he attended his graduating ceremony right before Game 7 of the second round, which was the biggest game in his basketball career.
Carter went 6-for-18 from the floor, scoring only 20 points and missed a potential game-winning shot as well. Although he would continue to have a good few years in Toronto, that decision harshened a ton of Raptors fans opinions on him, before everyone turned on him when he left.
During Carter's last few months with the Raptors, he essentially quit on the team and demanded a trade because he wasn't happy with the team's rebuilding process. Doesn't this sound very familiar with Marner? Maybe not to the same extent, but Marner and Carter have a lot in common.
Is Marner the new version of Vince Carter?
Marner, the former No. 4 overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, had the opportunity to become the greatest player in team history. His creativity, similar to Carter's ability to dunk, was one of the best in the NHL. There were only a handful of players who could do the things that he did with the puck, so that excitment made every Leafs fan fall in love with him.
He helped take a team from worst place to the playoffs and that excitement made fans truly think that the Leafs could win their first Stanley Cup since 1967. However that quickly dissapeared as he became a player who would crash and burn in the biggest moments. After his contract negotiations got very public and messy in 2019, he followed that up with a 18-game goal-less drought in the playoff which extended from April 13, 2019 to May 2, 2022.
He immediately turned from the fan-favourite to a player that you couldn't win with. We all thought that he might be traded in the summer of 2023, but that never happened and he continued to feel the brunt of the problems until his eventual leave in 2025.
Similar to Carter, we all felt like Marner had given up on the team and his effort wasn't good enough. As a local kid, you'd think that he'd know better than anyone that we care more about effort than results, so it's even worse if you can't deliver either. Yelling at his teammates despite having zero sweat on his forehead was the definition of Marner's career in Toronto, which is why he's going to get booed tonight.
When Carter returned to Toronto for the first time after being traded, Air Canada Centre (at the time) had never been louder with hate. Raptors fans booed him every time he touched the ball and made him aware at how much we disrespected him. However, years later the team eventually retired his jersey and that hatred turned into love because the organization and fanbase realized just how special his talent was.
I'm not sold that Marner will recieve that type of treatment at the end of his career, but I can promise you that he's going to get booed just as loud as Carter, and it's unfortuantely fully deserved.