Toronto Raptors point guard, Fred VanVleet, has a decision to make whether he stays with The Raptors or signs with a new team.
This Friday is day one of NBA Free Agency and VanVleet can stay with the Toronto Raptors or sign with any team he wants especially with teams like the New York Knicks and the Detroit Pistons have significant cap space to sign him.
VanVleet, who averaged a career-high 17.6 points per game, 4.1 assists per game, and 2.6 rebounds per game, was recently asked about his upcoming decision on The Old Man & The Three podcast and said that he is looking to get paid this offseason.
"“I’m not shy about that. I don’t have to tell people that I value winning. Just look at my story, do your research,” he said. “I’ve never been on a losing team in my entire life. That’s what I’m about and that’s just what it is. I won a championship and now it’s time to cash out.”"
The 6 feet 1 point guard from Wichita State University could get a four-year deal worth somewhere between $80-$100 million which Toronto can afford to pay him that kind of deal since they have cap space.
But with the 2021 free agency have players like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Lebron James, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, DeMar DeRozan, and Victor Oladipo available to sign with any team. The Raptors would want to spend all of their cap space next year rather than use it all this year.
Fred VanVleet also said on The Old Man & The Three podcast that he would like to have more of a lead role with whatever team he signs with.
"“I’m 26, I’m only four years in but 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,” he said. “So all of those things factor into it but at the end of the day it’s not purely numbers but the numbers do play a big part and I just want to feel my value reciprocated from the other end.”"
With Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam being the focal point of the Raptors, VanVleet may want to go to another team to find that leading role.
With that said, here are some potential replacements for Fred VanVleet who can fill the void of his role.
Norman Powell
This is the easiest replacement for the Raptors because Norman Powell is still under contract with the team for at least two more years.
Powell is coming off this season averaging a career-high 16 PPG, 2.4 RPG, and 1.3 APG. He was in the starting lineup for 26 out of 52 games, so he was the sixth man off the bench.
If VanVleet leaves Toronto, Powell can take that the starting shooting guard role and hopefully take that next step.
He will still average around 16 PPG and his 28.4 minutes per game from last season should increase around 32. So, he will get more touches and opportunities this season.
Can the Toronto Raptors trade for Derrick Rose?
He is not the MVP type player that he once was, but Derrick Rose can still help a team by scoring 18 a night.
With Rose on the team, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse could still do the Lowry and VanVleet combo with Derrick Rose instead.
He is not a free agent so he cannot sign with Toronto. But since Rose’s current team is the Detroit Pistons and since the Pistons are interested in VanVleet, Toronto can do a trade with Detroit that involves Fred VanVleet and Derrick Rose.
This scenario did get a little bit complicated because as of this writing, the Pistons just made a trade with the Houston Rockets that sends Trevor Ariza and the number 16 pick in last night’s draft for a second-round pick.
The VanVleet and Rose trade can still work depending on how much money VanVleet wants.
If he wants the $20 million per year contract, then the trade can still work. If he wants a contract worth $ 25-30 million per year, it can still work if the Raptors want to also take Ariza or Tony Snell in this trade or Detroit can trade them somewhere else.
The Toronto Raptors could take a chance on Isaiah Thomas
It was a couple of years ago where Isaiah Thomas was one of the best point guards in the league, now he is looking for an opportunity to join a team that can use his help.
In the 2016-17 season playing for the Boston Celtics, Thomas’s scoring average was a career-high 28.9 points. In the next three seasons, he only averaged less than 16 a game.
Thomas’s decline was due to a hip injury that he suffered in 2017. His injury did not fully heal, and it affected his career so badly that he was traded, signed, and cut from five different teams in the past three years.
Recently, he posted a video on his Instagram where he said that he is 100 percent healthy and ready to play for a team.
He would a great pick-up for Toronto because they can use him the same way they use Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet, starting the two-point guards at the same time.
The only difference is that with Lowry and VanVleet, they can play in either the PG spot or the shooting guard spot because they are similar in height. Thomas must play point guard because he is 5 ft 9, whereas Lowry is 6 ft tall. They can also have Thomas come off the bench and have Norman Powell start.
For Isaiah Thomas, he will be on a playoff team. He will not be the same player that he was in 2017, but that is not what they need him to do. They need him to be a guy that gives you 14-17 points a night.
The money should not be a problem for the Raptors because Thomas’s value should be less than five million due to his history of injuries. And for the former two-time NBA All-Star, this is a chance for him to play well and in the 2021 offseason, get a max type of deal from the Raptors or from another team.
The Raptors should do whatever it takes to sign VanVleet because he is a valuable piece to this team.
But it’s understandable why they might not be willing to pay him that much due to the players available next year.
So replacing VanVleet with Powell, Rose or Thomas is a good idea for Toronto because they can fill VanVleet’s role and still have the cap space for 2021.