VanVleet thrilled to stay with Raptors
TORONTO (CP) — Fred VanVleet was out at a local drug store getting diapers just after midnight on July 1 when Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri came calling to sign him.
VanVleet missed the call but said he appreciated the gesture.
“They wanted me back, I wanted to be back,” VanVleet said on Friday. “For me, it was a super easy decision.”
VanVleet and the Raptors agreed on a reported two-year, US$18-million deal last Sunday, but the extension couldn’t be made official until Friday when the NBA moratorium on contracts was lifted.
VanVleet dressed in 76 games for Toronto last season, averaging a careerhigh 8.6 points and 3.2 assists and being named a finalist for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award. A restricted free agent before signing his new deal, VanVleet could have tested the waters with other teams for a rich deal.
But loyalty to the team that gave him the opportunity to break into the NBA prevented that scenario.
“For two parties that wanted to make it work, everything kind of happened the right way,” said VanVleet, adding: “I wasn’t inclined to go look elsewhere.”
The six-foot point guard went undrafted after spending four years playing college basketball at Wichita State. The Raptors signed the 24-year-old native of Rockford, Ill., to his first professional contract in July 2016 and assigned him to their development franchise in the G-League. VanVleet’s role has grown to the point where he has become a reliable contributor off the bench and has been thrust into important situations late in games where he is on the court with Toronto’s starters.
His contribution helped the Raptors to a franchise-best 59-23 regular-season record while earning their first No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
“Two years ago around this time, he was the backup point guard on our summer league team and, really every step along the way, he’s made the jump,” Raptors GM Bobby Webster said. “It’d be naive for us to put any ceiling on him. It’s been two years.” VanVleet’s contract gives him a substantial raise over the $1.3 million he earned last season. He will also become an unrestricted free agent when the contract expires at the end of the 2019-20 season. His contract follows a similar path to key players DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, Jonas Valanciunas and Serge Ibaka — all ending at the same time.