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FRED VanVleet bet on himself. It was worth it.
VanVleet agreed on Saturday (Sunday Manila time) to a four-year, $ 85 million contract to remain with the Toronto Raptors, a person with direct knowledge of the discussions told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the contract remains unsigned. . The fourth year of the contract is at VanVleet’s option.
VanVleet, the undrafted point guard from the state of Wichita, has played a huge role in the recent successes of the Raptors, the biggest highlight of their run to the 2019 NBA championship. He has set career highs in scoring. By wide margins in each of the past three seasons, that number increased to 17.6 points per game last season.
Keeping VanVleet was of great importance to the Raptors, who have won at least 50 games in each of the last five seasons, by far the longest current streak in the NBA. Milwaukee is on a two-year streak and reigning NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers hit the 50-win mark last season.
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He also fulfilled a VanVleet prophecy: He was famous for not being drafted four years ago, then he passed some low-money deals that he thought wouldn’t turn into much.
“I turned them down. I bet on myself,” VanVleet told friends and family on what would have been his draft night, a festive occasion that was disappointing when the call from the NBA never came.
The Raptors signed him to a summer league contract, then a minimum contract, then gave him a two-year, $ 18 million deal two years later, and now they gave him the full reward.
Kyle Lowry, the veteran guard and longtime leader of the Raptors, has predicted that VanVleet will take on that role one day. The agreement agreed on Saturday only consolidates that kind of thinking.
“It will be rewarded,” Lowry said after the Raptors were eliminated with a Game 7 loss to Boston in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season. “For me, that means that the world can take care of its family and take care of its family at a high level.”
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