Now that the offseason has arrived for the Raptors, attention turns to re-signing Fred VanVleet, who will be one of the top names on the free agent market, writes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. After making a name for himself by hitting big shots in last year’s playoffs, VanVleet became a full -time starter and turned in his best NBA season, averaging career highs with 17.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game.
At 26, the fourth-year guard will be part of the Raptors’ foundation if he stays in Toronto, and he said he had plenty of time to consider his situation while the league was on hiatus.
“Being at home for that long, it gives you a lot of time to reflect on things,” VanVleet said. “I’m sure — like all of us, everybody’s jobs were in jeopardy — I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with the league. I wasn’t sure about next year with the cap and what the numbers would look like, so it put a lot of things in perspective. It changed the way you would view everything and makes you appreciate things a lot more. … I’m not looking ahead, or I was never looking ahead all year. I was focused on trying to win a championship with this team. And we got the opportunity to come back here in the bubble and give ourselves a chance, and that’s all you can ask for.”
There’s more on the Raptors:
- Toronto faces difficult decisions on free agents Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN. Injuries limited Gasol to 44 games this season and he averaged a career-low 7.5 PPG. Gasol will turn 36 in January, but Marks expects him to have a future in the league, probably making $6 million to $8 million less than his $25.5 million salary this season. Ibaka averaged a career-best 15.4 PPG and Marks believes he will get offers at the $9.3 million mid-level exception from playoff teams without cap space. He mentions the Mavericks and Trail Blazers as possibilities, but guesses that Toronto may offer a one-year deal at $18 million to keep Ibaka and preserve cap space for the summer of 2021.
- Another important decision involves OG Anunoby, who will be eligible for a rookie-scale extension, Marks adds in the same story. Anunoby has a free-agent cap hold for 2020 of $11.7 million, and any extension above that number will eat into 2021 cap space. He will become a restricted free agent next summer if he’s not extended, and Marks points out that his value could be much higher by then.
- Pascal Siakam never rediscovered his shot once the shutdown ended, which was a big factor in the series loss to Boston, notes Andrew Lopez of ESPN. Siakam said he accepts “a lot of the blame” for the defeat, but Kyle Lowry had a prediction for his teammate. “I think this is only going to make him a better basketball player, a better man, a better everything,” Lowry said. “I would not be surprised to see him come back even more hungry and destroying people.”
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