Big News Given Pertaining To Fred VanVleet's Future With Toronto
Fred VanVleet was an essential part of the Toronto Raptors championship team in 2019 and since then, he has continued to grow into a leader and All-Star for his team.
Unfortunately for the Raptors, success has been hard to come by lately, as they have not won a playoff series since 2020 and they missed the playoffs entirely in 2021.
This season, Toronto finds themselves 22-27 ahead of the trade deadline and currently outside the Play-In Tournament picture in the Eastern Conference.
Regardless of what the Raptors do at the trade deadline to try and improve their roster, one key question that they will need to answer heading into the offseason pertains to Fred VanVleet and what his future with the organization looks like.
While he still has one more year left on his contract, VanVleet does have an opt out option after this season and can forgo the remaining $22.8 million on his deal to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
At 28-years-old and turning 29 in February, VanVleet has drawn interest from several playoff contending teams around the league and he could be very open to entering free agency to see what kinds of offers are out there, especially after recent news about his representation.
According to NBA insider Marc Stein, Fred VanVleet is expected to hire Klutch Sports as his new representation, cutting ties with his agents, Par-Lay Sports & Entertainment.
Klutch Sports currently represents a ton of notable NBA players such as LeBron James, De’Aaron Fox, Draymond Green, Zach LaVine, Dejounte Murray, Anthony Davis and so many others.
VanVleet would be the latest All-Star-like name to sign with the agency and what is notable about Klutch is that it is run by Rich Paul, who happens to be LeBron James’ best friend.
Of course this will create some conspiracy theories about VanVleet possibly going to the Los Angeles Lakers, who have five players on their active roster represented by Klutch Sports, but NBA fans should not read too much into this, as Klutch is known for negotiating some of the biggest deals for the biggest stars in the league.
This is much more likely a scenario in which VanVleet would like to capitalize on his production over the last couple of seasons, especially since he is at the peak of his career.
In a total of 40 games this season with the Raptors, Fred VanVleet has averaged 19.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game while shooting 38.9 percent from the floor and 34.1 percent from three-point range.
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