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 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.
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.