"I'm officially finished playing basketball. I'm officially done playing basketball professionally," said Vince Carter in his announcement of retirement on Thursday.

The announcement was made during an interview on the "Winging It with Vince Carter" podcast via The Ringer Network.

Known as Air Canada, Vinsanity and Half Man and Half Amazing, the eight-time NBA All-Star finally put an end to his 22-year-long career at the age of 43.

"Making my last shot helped the situation. I think if I didn't make my last shot, it'd have been a little different. It'd have felt a little different. I'd have been itching to, at least get back and just play one minute and just make one shot – I don't care what it would be: free throw, layup, I don't care. As a player playing your last game – whether you know it or not – you always want to say, 'well, at least I made the last shot of my career.' And I can actually say that, so I'm happy," said Carter.

On March 11, Carter played his last game as a member of the Atlanta Hawks against the New York Knicks at the State Farm Arena. He buried a 3-pointer when there were 13.6 seconds left in overtime, though the Hawks lost 136-131.

The suspension of the 2019-20 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic partially led to Carter's decision.

"I'm not going to say since March 11 (I knew I was going to retire), I'm not going to say since that day, but pretty close. Since the end of March – we've talked about it – I felt that it was pretty much over. That's kind of how I've handled it. It made for, if there was any disappointment because of the season or any of that, it was easier to put it aside and handle it that way. It's something bigger than my career."

"With the coronavirus, it was taking people's lives rapidly – that's the big picture in my mind. I was able to put the weird ending, the abrupt stoppage of play to an ending, aside for the bigger picture. Obviously you're worried about family, friends ... as you go further on, there's always going to be somebody close to you or pretty close by way of somebody that's been affected by it."

Since he was selected by the Golden State Warriors with the fifth pick in the 1998 NBA Draft and traded to the Toronto Raptors, Carter has played eight different teams while being named All-NBA Second Team once and All-NBA Third Team once. He scored 25,728 points and sank 2,290 3-pointers in total.

Carter watched the departures of Shaquille O'Neal, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady. And now it's his turn.

He might have left the court, but the epic night of the Slam Dunk Contest during the 2000 All-Star Weekend in Oakland will forever be etched in the memory of his fans. "It's over. Let's go home baby, let's go home."