It doesn't get more devastating for an NBA team than hearing that one of their key players has been injured and will likely be out for the entire season. That's exactly what has happened to Fred VanVleet, the former Raptors star who is now with the Houston Rockets. Yesterday, Shams Charania announced the injury news on X, revealing that VanVleet had sustained an ACL injury during offseason training. The timing is really unfortunate, since teams are less than a month away from returning to the court for the 2025-26 regular season.
Case in point, the VanVleet turn of events is definitely disastrous for the Houston Rockets. Even though Rockford's finest has his flaws — mainly shot selection, efficiency, and some low IQ plays in spurts — FVV brings a level of championship experience that would have been absolutely crucial for Houston's push toward title contention this coming year.
VanVleet unable to provide Rockets with championship grit after injury
And where did VanVleet develop that winning mentality from? Well, it all started when he was with the Toronto Raptors, of course. Like I mentioned, in the years after that, I’m sure many Raptors fans (myself included) started to feel a bit wary and cautious about VanVleet’s playing style and overall impact. Still, you can’t deny the tremendous effort FVV put in when it mattered most, especially during the legendary 2019 championship run.
To kick off the Raptors' extremely important 2019 postseason run, VanVleet started off a little rough. But after the birth of his son, Fred Jr., something seemed to change. VanVleet suddenly found a new level of energy and focus, almost like he gained mystical powers. He quickly became one of Toronto's key contributors during that playoff run.
His shooting took off to the moon, even though before his son was born, it seemed like VanVleet couldn’t buy a basket in the games. Suddenly, Toronto had a true sniper on their side, and FVV’s relentless defense became a real game-changer when the Raptors faced Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors in the Finals. VanVleet wasn’t afraid of the big moment; he even took a big hit to the face that left him bloody, but he kept pushing through and giving it his all. In the end, even though Kawhi Leonard was named Finals MVP, VanVleet managed to steal a vote for Finals MVP during the voting, making his impact clear.
I know that the years after VanVleet's breakout weren’t perfect, and that struggle has carried over into his time with the Rockets. But at his core, he’s still someone driven by a hunger to win and a strong belief in himself, which is reflected in his "Bet on Yourself" mantra. Even though his success has varied since that 2019 run, he proved last season that he’s still a tough matchup for players like Steph Curry. When his team needs him most, he’s a dependable presence on the court.
It would've been really interesting to see how he’d mesh with the incoming star, Kevin Durant. But now, it’s going to be up to someone like Reed Sheppard or Amen Thompson to step in and take over the point guard role from VanVleet for the time being.