NOVEMBER 24: The Raptors have formally announced their new deal with VanVleet.
“In the last four years, we’ve seen Fred move from leader of Raptors 905, to leader of the Bench Mob to a leader of a championship team. The constant has been his leadership, no matter his role,” team president Masai Ujiri said in a statement. “We look forward to the coming years with Fred as one of the voices and hearts of our team. We bet on Fred.”
NOVEMBER 21: The Raptors have agreed to re-sign Fred VanVleet, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that VanVleet’s new deal will be for four years and will be worth $85MM. It’ll feature a player option in the final season, Charania adds (via Twitter).
The agreement represents a major payday for VanVleet, who went undrafted out of Wichita State in 2016 and spent part of his rookie season playing in the G League. The Raptors point guard emerged in 2017/18 as a part of the team’s regular rotation, earning a two-year, $18MM deal in the summer of 2018.
On that contract, VanVleet continued to take significant strides, playing a key role in the Raptors’ championship run in 2019 and then entering the starting lineup on a full-time basis last season. He established new career highs in PPG (17.6), APG (6.6), RPG (3.8), and several other categories in 54 games for Toronto in 2019/20.
While the Raptors were always viewed as the frontrunners to re-sign VanVleet, he was expected to receive interest from other teams, especially those with the cap room necessary to give him a deal in the range of $20MM annually. The Knicks were said to have some interest and – according to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) – Detroit was also in the mix. The Pistons bowed out when the bidding got too rich for their liking, per Goodwill.
The Raptors now have Pascal Siakam and VanVleet locked up for the next four seasons. The team has reportedly been making an effort to keep its 2021 cap sheet relatively clean in the hopes of making a run at a star free agent such as Giannis Antetokounmpo. VanVleet’s new deal will cut into Toronto’s space, but a max slot remains a possibility, depending on what subsequent moves the Raptors make.
VanVleet’s contract will start at $21.25MM in 2020/21 before declining by 8% in year two, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca, who notes (via Twitter) that the structure will help the Raps preserve as much cap space as possible for next summer.
Interestingly, the terms of VanVleet’s deal reported by Charania match up exactly with the four-year, $85MM contract Malcolm Brogdon received from Indiana a year ago. We’ve been hearing for months that Brogdon’s deal would likely set the market and be a point of comparison for VanVleet. It appears the Raptors and VanVleet’s camp agreed.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I wanted him to leave Toronto but it’s ok
Y’all are haters that’s why…
Fair deal for both sides.
Let’s gooooooooo
I guess he likes to win AND get paid. Wouldn’t this be another FA that was rumored to be a Knick within the last 2-3 years, and signed elsewhere?
the New York media links every good player (in every sport) to their team
As a knicks fan I am glade we did not sign him . Not because he is not a great play but because I believe he is not the of we need. Next year draft will have some great pg prospects . Keep rebuilding knicks
Y’all need Westbrick. Popular players is who knicks want. Russ being a solo act, and choosing triple doubles over playoff wins is just what the Knicks need!
“rumored”
just bc interest is expressed doesnt mean much really
i dont think knicks fans are losing much sleep missing out on paying van vleet 20+m a year
This is great for the raps ! Now they just need to resign ibaka(1-15/20) and maybe tristan Thompson(1-5/8).
Knicks now can sign 4 of the kind
Alec Burks
Ed Davis
Pay Leon Rose and World Wild West so much money to select Big Tom and Toppin
I can do better than this
vleet’s career avgs are 10/4/2
knicks have messed up a lot of stuff but this is by no means a huge loss
the thing with a weak free agency class is SOMEONE has to be at the top.
Y’all are making it seem like Vanvleet didn’t improve last season. Guess you forgot what he did in the finals and playoffs last year, he’s got a ring, something nobody on the Knicks has!
As a Knicks fan, this is a good sign that they are committed to the rebuild and not signing players for the sake of being mediocre.
No they don’t make brash moves to make the team mediocre. They stay the course in building a mediocre team the right way, through meticulous planning and guesswork.
For the last ten years, your spot on. Wouldn’t even say they’ve been mediocre. But they haven’t dived in this year and are showing patience. Liking it.
knicks fans punching the air right now
In celebration? He’s good, but I don’t think he’s a game-changer. I like the approach of not spending money for the sake of spending money.
Also, I find it hard to dislike the Raptops (Drake aside) and want basketball to succeed in Canada, so this is great.
Lol did you watch the finals when they won? Changed a lot of games actually…
Great deal for both sides
Does this mean that KL might be on the trade block, especially after drafting a KL and FVV clone in Malachi Flynn ?
Now Sillyman can stop posting VanVleet worth 30 mill. And Knicks will pay more. Knicks are finally doing the rebuild right. All about the young talent. Toppin is the best big man in draft. And he is the most ready to start next yr. He’ll be ROY. More important Knicks building a team the right way. Quickly is a solid choice. Then signing Powell was a great pickup.
The Sillyman has brought good luck to the Knicks
Than You lol
He deserves it! Good job Raptors. Now time to reward Ibaka for his hard work and get 1 more scorer. Extend Masai too!!!
big overpay, in my opinion. they would have been better off trying to keep their bigs, and trying to add shooting at the 2/3 positions