After going undrafted in 2016, Fred VanVleet signed with the Toronto Raptors. His time in Toronto brought him an NBA Championship and an All-Star appearance.
On Friday, VanVleet’s time in Toronto got him something else — a max contract with the Houston Rockets.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that VanVleet agreed to a three-year, $130 million deal with the Rockets on Friday. He added that VanVleet’s deal is “the first max contract of the summer.”
VanVleet lands the first max contract of the summer. https://t.co/dl71Zat5vt
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2023
VanVleet was a rotation player for the Raptors when they won the championship in 2019. The following year, he became a starter and his career really took off. Over the last four seasons, the now-former Raptors guard averaged 19.3 points, 6.7 assists, 1.8 steals and 4.1 rebounds a game for Toronto, while shooting 39.9% from the field, 36.7% on threes and 87.8% on free throws.
So, there’s no doubt that VanVleet is a good player capable of putting up solid numbers. But there’s a difference between a good player and a max player? And several people in the NBA world were less than convinced that VanVleet is worth a max deal that will pay him an average of more than $43 million a season.
Didn’t have Fred Van Vleet being more expensive than Kyrie Irving on my free agency bingo card… https://t.co/oNC5tQAbMR
— Callie Caplan (@CallieCaplan) July 1, 2023
This is what $40M normally gets you… Fred Van Vleet is not in this class of players https://t.co/HgL88NcIqp pic.twitter.com/y4ydBib8A9
— LegendOfWinning (@LegendOfWinning) July 1, 2023
Rich Paul could get a McDonalds worker $70 an hour to work the drive thru https://t.co/M6rymYpHVx
— JFar
(@JFar2Nice) July 1, 2023
I know they had to spend the money but sheeeeshhhhhh.
Happy for FVV and his fam. Undrafted to $130M https://t.co/9flZJYnwta— KENNY BEECHAM (@KOT4Q) July 1, 2023
Yo. The Rockets are hammered drunk. https://t.co/2z3ZaAEc45
— Damon Bruce (@DamonBruce) July 1, 2023
Shot 39% FG AND 34% 3PT and gets a MAX! What ya’ll think Jalen Brunson gonna get in 2 years?
#Knicks https://t.co/3Kn5aKPlLf — JD SportsTalk (@JDSportsTalkNY) July 1, 2023
40 million a year for FVV, what are the Rockets cooking https://t.co/GoShKhPFqA
— ᴅ ʀ ᴇ ᴡ (@FeelLikeDrew) July 1, 2023
Rich Paul is the GOAT, this contract is filthy lmao https://t.co/fbUkIquNMA
— Sean Davis (@Sean_Davi) July 1, 2023
VanVleet will be joining a Rockets team that has been one of the worst in the NBA over the last three seasons. But because of that, he’ll be joining a team that includes 2021’s No. 2 overall pick, Jalen Green, 2022’s No. 3 overall pick, Jabari Smith Jr. and 2023’s No. 4 overall pick, Amen Thompson.