Fred VanVleet is worried about what’s coming.
He fought hard with his new Houston Rockets training staff to be ready to go Friday night for his return to Toronto. Knowing him, it was an all-out assault. If there was any chance that he’d be good to go, he would have taken it. But it wasn’t to be. An adductor strain he suffered last Sunday will keep him sidelined against the Toronto Raptors.
“I was okay with that until I got here this morning,” VanVleet said as he sat opposite the Raptors benches following shootaround for the Rockets on Friday morning. “I’m a little bit sad. But all in all, just happy to be here. Just looking forward to being here tonight.”
VanVleet won’t be announced in the starting lineup, but at some point, there’s certainly going to be a tribute video and a moment to honor one of the great players and most incredible success stories in franchise history. Over his seven seasons in Toronto, VanVleet went from an unknown and undrafted undersized rookie to an NBA champion, an NBA All-Star, and inarguably a top-10 player in franchise history.
“Hopefully I don’t get too emotional,” he said. “I’m not a big crying type of person but I’m worried that might creep up on me.”
The team VanVleet returns to see in Toronto looks radically different from the one he left. Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby are long gone and only four players from last year's team remain with the Raptors today.
For VanVleet, it’s not that surprising.
“That's really the only way it was ever gonna go,” he said of Toronto’s changes. “It was just kind of like a matter of when. Once you set off on that timeline and on that trajectory, like this is what it looks like.”
That’s in part why the 29-year-old left for Houston in the summer. Last season had been a slog in Toronto, and VanVleet knew a pivot was coming for the Raptors. Toronto was eventually going to shift timelines and VanVleet's services were more valuable elsewhere.
“I think it was time to turn over a new leaf,” VanVleet said. “I think they’re making all the right moves; they're headed in a direction that they want to go in and that was really the only way it was going to go.”
VanVleet still keeps tabs on Toronto, in part because he has to.
His son, Fred Jr., still loves the Raptors and insists on watching Toronto play whenever possible. It’s strange to see so many different faces, but VanVleet is happy to accommodate his son.
“He's still got all of the memories of being here and he loves a mascot and like he knows the players and things like that,” VanVleet said.
Everyone seems to be in a better place now. Siakam and Anunoby are both happy in Indiana and New York, respectively, VanVleet said after seeing his two former Raptors teammates on recent road trips. For his part, VanVleet and the Rockets are gelling about as well as anyone could have hoped for.
The Raptors hadn't wanted VanVleet to leave the way he did, but maybe for everyone, it was better his tenure in Toronto ended when it did.
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