The Toronto Raptors were widely expected to trade point guard Fred VanVleet in order to move toward a more Scottie Barnes-oriented attack, but they decided to rebuff all offers made to them by desperate teams and instead retain the All-Star point guard ahead of potential free agency.
VanVleet is widely expected to opt out of the final year of his contract in order to secure a nine-figure contract in his last big payday. VanVleet seems to think that new representation is the best way to get as much money as possible.
VanVleet officially joined Klutch Sports, which will make his upcoming negotiations even more interesting. This agency has been known for both getting their clients huge deals and angling them to certain landing spots.
Both Nick Nurse and Gary Trent Jr. are Klutch guys, so there is clearly some mutual respect between Klutch and Toronto. At the same time, it is impossible to look at the multitude of free agents that have joined either the Lakers or a big market team of a similar ilk. Will VanVleet follow suit?
https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1626736678625808384
More Raptors news
- ESPN’s Dave McMenamin confirmed what many Raptors fans and NBA observers already believed about Toronto’s hesitancy to trade stars like VanVleet and OG Anunoby at the trade deadline. McMenamin said that the Raptors “surprised” a lot of people around the NBA by only grabbing Poeltl and keeping it moving.
- David Thorpe of TrueHoop suggested that he would fire Nick Nurse if he had his druthers, even floating Raptors assistant Earl Watson (who was an unsuccessful head coach in Phoenix) as a replacement. While the heat does need to be turned up on Nurse amid some bad vibes and poor records, a firing would be a very sharp change.
Nick Nurse strikes me as someone who kind of needs to get fired yet could very easily go back to being one of the best coaches in the NBA pretty quickly.
— Sam Quinn (@SamQuinnCBS) February 11, 2023
The locker room stuff in Toronto has been so weird. It feels like there are some lessons that need to be learned there. https://t.co/0V4W6x1rtH
NBA news
- The Chicago Bulls appear ready to shut down former No. 2 overall pick Lonzo Ball for the remainder of the season. Due to knee injuries that have prevented him from playing this season and limited him to just 35 games since signing with the Bulls, there is some serious doubt about Ball ever playing in the NBA again at just 25 years old.
- 76ers two-way point guard Mac McClung stole the show in the 2023 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, earning a perfect 50 and taking home some hardware at the end of the night. A team full of Utah Jazz players came out on top in the Skills Challenge, while Trail Blazers superstar Damian Lillard won the Three-Point Shootout.