VanVleet’s not worried about the contract money
Free agent-to-be figures he probably won’t get the decent raise he deserves
It is with a calm and reasoned and realistic eye that Fred VanVleet views the world, his craft and his place in both.
There is a measure of maturity to the 26-year-old Raptors guard that might catch you off guard if it hasn’t been the way he’s comported himself ever since he arrived in the NBA as an unproven, undrafted, undersized guard who paid no attention to the laundry list of things he supposedly couldn’t do.
And now, with a payday of unimaginable value hanging in the balance once his livelihood returns, the NBA free-agent-tobe remains very much grounded. He can’t, or won’t, think about the tens of millions of dollars his next contract might be worth because it would be unseemly in these oddest of times.
“At the end of the day, I think people’s health and well-being and frame of mind (are) a lot more important than a couple million here or there, because we’re all filthy rich compared to what we came from in the first place,” VanVleet said during a Wednesday conference call.
“So I don’t think anybody’s crying over it, I just think that it sucks when you do start to think about what woulda happened, shoulda happened, so (I) try to stay away from that as much as possible.” It has to be hard, though. VanVleet is underpaid by NBA standards. His current deal is worth slightly less than $9 million (U.S.) a season and there is no question he would have at least doubled his annual stipend on the open market in July. But billions likely will be gone from the NBA coffers when free agency rolls around and VanVleet’s share will drop precipitously.
“Yeah, I think about it, I’m human,” he said. “I felt like I worked myself into a good position, I was having a helluva year and I was planning on having a great playoffs to cap that off …
“I think — more so than worry about what woulda, coulda, shoulda happened — it’s more so like what’s going to happen. Are they gonna move the dates around, does free agency move, how does it affect the cap?
“Those things (are) what I’m thinking about versus ‘oh, woe is me,’ just because it’s something that happens to everybody. It doesn’t just happen to me and I just happen to be in this position.”
The last time VanVleet was a free agent, he had yet to fully prove himself as a vital member of a championship-calibre team. The two-year, $18-million deal he signed was probably a bit of an overpay in money but it was a shorter term than he most likely deserved.
Now, as a four-year veteran who was averaging more than 17 points and six assists for a team with a legitimate chance to repeat as NBA champions, the jumping-off point for a new deal is much higher. Five years and $100 million wouldn’t have been out of the realm of possibility.
“I’m in a position where I feel like I’ve done my work and proven my worth,” he said. “We’re going to position ourselves the right way, but also we’re kind of waiting to see what’s offered
“I just did a two-year (contract). Best-case scenario, no, I wouldn’t take a short-term deal. But obviously this is not a best-case scenario for anybody. I’ll just say I’m flexible. I’m open. I’ll listen. I think everybody knows what a best-case scenario looks like. We’ll start there and work our way down.”
For now, though, VanVleet will remain in limbo, like everyone else connected with the NBA. No one can say with any certainty if or when or in what form the game will return — “I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t come back and I wouldn’t be surprised if we do come back,” he said — so he’s at home in Rockford, Ill., hanging with his family, building toys and slides and stuff for his two kids and trying to stay in reasonably good shape. He misses his teammates and hates the inactivity.
“I think everybody’s just trying to wait it out and stay ready and stay sane and stay healthy,” he said. ”Obviously we would love to get a chance to compete for a title because we felt like we had as good a chance as anybody.
“We would love to have a chance to win something at the end of the year. That’s all we can do, is kind of wait and hope.”