By Canadian Press

Source: Backup guard Fred VanVleet agrees to two-year deal with Raptors

Jul 1, 2018 | 9:15 AM

TORONTO — Fred VanVleet has always bet on himself. Because for awhile, it seemed like nobody else would.

But VanVleet earned the Raptors’ undying support as the hard-working motor that powered Toronto’s league-leading second unit last season. And hours after NBA free agency opened Sunday morning, the team rewarded him with a two-year contract worth a reported US$18 million — a massive pay raise for the player who earned less than US$2 million in the past two seasons combined.

The deal, confirmed to The Canadian Press, can’t become official until the league’s off-season moratorium ends on Friday.

The 24-year-old backup point guard took to Twitter on Sunday to post the motto he lives by, writing simply: “Bet On Yourself.”

VanVleet stands an unremarkable six feet tall. He’s far from the most athletic player on the floor. It was perhaps his physical stature that saw him go undrafted in 2016, despite leading the Wichita State Shockers to an appearance in NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 that year.

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But the Raptors had had their eye on the scrappy guard, who prides himself on his high basketball IQ, his steely mental approach, and non-stop motor, and they added him to their summer league roster a few weeks after the draft, eventually signing him to a multi-year deal in mid-July of that year.

Raptors president Masai Ujiri made it clear recently that retaining the native of Rockford, Ill., a finalist for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, was a top off-season priority.

“I don’t know what the rules are with that,” Ujiri said recently on the guard’s contract status. “I don’t want to get into trouble but I love Freddie. I hope I don’t get fined for saying that but I love Freddie. He’s our player and I love him. Whatever it is, Freddie knows we love him.”

VanVleet, who was third in voting for the sixth man award, patiently worked on his game with Raptors 905 in his rookie season, making 16 appearances with the team’s Mississauga-based G-League club. But he worked his way into former coach Dwane Casey’s rotation this past season, and never relinquished it. 

His personal stats in his sophomore season weren’t eye-popping  — he averaged 8.6 points and 3.2 assists, and shot 41.4 per cent from three-point range — but his steady hand in guiding the team’s second unit was a big reason the Raptors won a franchise-high 59 games and secured the No. 1 seed in the east.  

Raptors shooting guard Norman Powell posted his congratulations on Instagram, writing “Congrats Bro Bro @fredvanvleet.” VanVleet reposted the message.

VanVleet was a regular fixture in the fourth quarter for Toronto, relied upon both for his clutch shooting and hustle play. He played more fourth-quarter minutes, in fact, than any other Raptor this season, and his absence in the first few games of the post-season due a shoulder injury was sorely felt.

There was talk the Phoenix Suns had their eye on VanVleet, but that diminished early Sunday morning after the Suns reportedly agreed to a one-year deal with veteran swingman Trevor Ariza.

Lori Ewing , The Canadian Press