Betting on himself pays off, with help from Junior
Birth of his son seems like key moment in VanVleet’s journey from being an undrafted free-agent to signing deal worth $21M a year
A four-year deal worth $85 million (U.S.). A little more than three years ago, it might have been difficult to imagine Fred VanVleet’s name attached to those kinds of numbers.
On the third-last day of April 2017, after all, VanVleet was playing in the NBA G League. He was playing very well, mind you, scoring 28 points as the Raptors 905 claimed the developmental league championship. But as an NBA rookie, he wasn’t an obvious star in the making. He had scored in double figures a whopping three times all season. He never had more than six assists in a single game. When the playoffs rolled around, he averaged four minutes a game from the depths of Dwane Casey’s bench. Which is why, in the midst of a first-round post-season series against the Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto saw him as expendable enough to send him to the 905 to close out a minor-league title.
A four-year deal worth $85 million.
Something like 18 months ago, when the Raptors were life and death to beat the Philadelphia 76ers in a secondround post-season series, mentioning those figures in a conversation about Toronto’s six-foot-one backup point guard would have had you laughed out of the room. There were moments in that series, let’s not forget, when VanVleet looked downright unplayable. Snuffed out by Philly’s long-limbed backcourt, he played all of seven minutes in a Game 4 win. He was so ineffective that the name “Jeremy Lin” was bandied about as a potentially superior option. And to be fair to Lin, both he and VanVleet made exactly the same number of three-pointers in that particular series: one apiece.
But anyone who cares about the Raptors knows what happened not long after. A first-born son named Fred VanVleet Jr. arrived in the world. Perhaps it was the mysterious power of new fatherhood that somehow transformed the coldest of Toronto shooting hands into a deadeye clutch performer. Whatever, the Raptors won a championship. And while Kawhi Leonard rightly got most of the credit, VanVleet
— who played impactful defence on the likes of Steph Curry and shot 53 per cent from deep in the nine playoff games after Junior introduced himself to the basketball planet — earned a single vote for Finals MVP from the great Hubie Brown.
Which goes a long way to explaining how VanVleet agreeing Saturday to a four-year deal worth $85 million to remain with the Raptors seems like a favourable contract for both sides.
For the Raptors, retaining VanVleet was crucial. A franchise that has built its foundation on a developmental program that counts the undrafted VanVleet as one of its marquee products couldn’t in good conscience watch VanVleet walk out the door. It would have been murder for the brand. It would have been tough on the on-court prospects, too, seeing how VanVleet started every game during a pandemicinterrupted regular season in which Toronto put up the best winning percentage in franchise history.
And for VanVleet, who had made noise about his wish to “cash out” after being such a key contributor to a championship, Toronto’s offer proved more than generous. Though VanVleet was expected to be a coveted commodity on the free-agent market, competitors weren’t exactly seen pulling up the proverbial Brinks truck when free agency opened on Friday. The New York Knicks, long speculated as a likely suitor, never met with VanVleet. The Pistons, who could have used VanVleet and had a connection thanks to Casey, now the Detroit head coach, reportedly considered VanVleet’s asking price too high. VanVleet’s motto is “Bet on Yourself.” In signing him to this deal, the Raptors were, in some ways, bidding against themselves.
But team president Masai Ujiri has long understood that nickel-and-diming your best players is never a recipe for success. Certainly VanVleet, who has long spoken of himself as a “businessman,” wasn’t going to be anybody’s stooge.
“It’s not purely about (financial) numbers,” VanVleet told J.J. Redick’s “Old Man and the Three” podcast last week, speaking of his impending free agency. “But the numbers do play a big part and I just want to feel my value reciprocated from the other end.”
So, no, this wasn’t exactly a hometown discount. (As a raft of deals were announced Friday, perhaps the best example of one of those was handed out in Los Angeles, where reigning sixth man of the year Montrezl Harrell ap
peared to shock his now-former teammates on the wobbling Clippers to jump to the defending champion Lakers on a two-year deal worth a reasonable $19 million).
But neither could VanVleet’s pact be considered a massive overpay. (For a better look at one of those, witness the fouryear deal worth $120 million inexplicably gifted to 30-yearold Gordon Hayward by Michael Jordan’s Charlotte Hornets on Saturday). All signs point to the parameters of VanVleet’s contract giving the Raptors room to potentially sign a max-contract free agent in the much-anticipated offseason of 2021, long a franchise priority.
And given VanVleet’s history of year-over-year improvement thanks to an admirable work ethic, there’s a chance the 26-year-old guard eventually finds a way to make his $21.25million annual average salary look like a bargain in a league in which the player with the highest cap hit, Curry, is slated to earn more than twice that in the coming season.
“I’m 26, I’m only four years in, I feel like I’m on the verge of blossoming even more with more of a lead role and just taking more responsibility in my game,” VanVleet told Redick last week.
Not that there aren’t holes in VanVleet’s game that could use patching. VanVleet is crafty and quick enough to take the ball to the basket. He needs to get better at putting the thing in. Though he put up careerbest numbers in a lot of offensive categories — averaging 17.6 points a game while shooting 39 per cent from three-point range — he shot just 52 per cent from the restricted area this past season, worst among any Raptor regular. That percentage dipped to 48 per cent in the playoffs and 44 per cent in Toronto’s second-round loss to the Celtics. The Raptors lost to Boston largely because Pascal Siakam performed unimaginably poorly. But VanVleet wasn’t great, either. He shot a subpar 28 per cent from three-point range in Toronto’s four losses to the Celtics.
If the mysterious power of new fatherhood appears to have worn off, on Saturday VanVleet agreed to accept a new gift: a security-bringing bagful of new money that ought to benefit generations. Four years and $85 million for a guy who was in the G-League a little more than three years ago. They say to whom much is given much is expected. And with VanVleet, the Raptors have come to expect better and better.