Toronto Raptors: Fred VanVleet’s Future With the Toronto Raptors

The Toronto Raptors have themselves a point guard for the future once Kyle Lowry retires or moves on from the Toronto Raptors later in his career, and his name is Fred VanVleet.

The Toronto Raptors currently have two amazing point guards that can play big minutes in the NBA.

One by the name of Kyle Lowry and the other by the name of Fred VanVleet who has an incredible story of how he got to the NBA.

Question is, with Fred VanVleet not signed past the 2019-20 season will he have a future with the Toronto Raptors and how will it be?

Fred VanVleet’s Journey to the NBA

Fred VanVleet had a similar journey to the NBA just like fellow teammate Terence Davis, as in they were both undrafted and then later signed with the Toronto Raptors. I find it awesome when a player doesn’t get drafted into the NBA but they continue to grind and strive to try and make it to the big leagues one day and they end up making it. In this case that’s what happened to Fred VanVleet.

Fred VanVleet is a 26 year old undrafted point guard out of Wichita State. He went undrafted during the 2016 NBA draft after playing four years of college basketball and that clearly hurts not getting drafted after playing four years for your college. The Raptors then later signed VanVleet to play during their summer league in 2016 and after that signed a multi year deal with the team.

VanVleet was a key piece to the Raptors 905 2017 championship run and later made himself a permanent Raptor on the team during the 2017-18 roster until present time. He was also a key piece to the Toronto Raptors 2019 championship run that we all remember.

Fred VanVleet’s Stats

Looking at Fred VanVleet and how far he has come in the last couple of years is something very special. From going undrafted to signed by the Toronto Raptors to winning two championships, one with the 905 and one with the Raptors.

2019-20 stats Raptors – 48 GP – 17.6 PPG – 3.8 RPG – 6.6 APG – .409 FG% – .388 3P% – .843 FT%

Career stats Raptors – 225 GP – 10.3 PPG – 2.5 RPG – 4.0 APG – .411 FG% – .392 3P% – .839 FT%

Fred has progressed every year in the NBA, from averaging 8 PPG during the 17/18 season to 11 PPG during the 18/19 season to jumping all the way to 17 PPG this season he has taken big steps in his development and that is a good sign if you’re a Raptors fan. (Stats from NBA.com)

Fred VanVleet’s Future With the Raptors

Fred VanVleet is currently unsigned past the 2019-20 season and is due for a new contract extension, and will more than likely get one in just a matter of time. The current players under contract for next season are…

Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam, Norman Powell, OG Anunoby, Patrick McCaw, Terence Davis, Matt Thomas, Dewan Hernandez, and Stanley Johnson. (Stats from Basketball-Reference.com)

Question is how much will VanVleet’s new contract be and for how long? Will it be a max contract? Will it be close to a max deal? I truly think he shouldn’t get a max deal for a couple of reasons, first reason being yes he has proven he can be a starting point guard in this league but I don’t think he’s a point guard that should be getting a max deal compared to other guards getting max deals. Second reason is, if the Toronto Raptors are serious about pursuing Giannis Antetokounmpo in the 2021 offseason then I think they should try and save a max deal for him instead.

I think a new extension for Vanvleet should look something like this or around something like this… $15M x 5 years.

Fred gets a pay raise of $6M and he’s locked up for another five years with the team that gave him a chance and signed him after going undrafted, as well as the team who he just won a championship with last season and their G-league team as well in 2017.

Whether the dollar amount and term amount is different from my guess I think that Fred VanVleet will remain a Raptor for a long time, his future with the team is obviously uncertain right now due to no contract extension at the moment but that will soon change.

He is a key part of the Toronto Raptors future moving forward along with other players like Pascal Siakam, and Norman Powell, and if the Toronto Raptors actually try and pursue Giannis in 2021 then him too.