Raptors expected to offer "big money" to keep VanVleet in Toronto: report

Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports

The Toronto Raptors are inching closer to figuring out where they’re heading this offseason, and it seems like they’re not ready to give up their assets without a fight.

According to NBA Insider Matt Moore of Action Network, veteran point guard Fred VanVleet is expecting a “big money offer” from the Raptors to keep him this summer.

Have an update on this that I wasn't expecting, Toronto still very much on the table for FVV with what I hear is a big money offer. https://t.co/ZXUlgarVbm

— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) June 21, 2023

While Moore had previously reported VanVleet was expected to get “significant offers” to leave Toronto, it doesn’t appear the Raptors will be letting him go easy.

On June 12, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski announced that VanVleet will be declining his $22.8 million player option for next season, as he’s set to hit unrestricted free agency this summer. The reported offers could include either signing VanVleet straight up or workshopping with the Raptors on a sign-and-trade to find a new deal.

“I would be pretty surprised at this point given what I’ve heard if Fred VanVleet were to return given that he’s got pretty significant offers,” Moore said to Sportsnet’s JD Bunkis earlier today. “He’s very, very desired on the market.”

Such is life in the modern pro basketball world, as the chaotic offseason officially gets underway tomorrow with Thursday’s NBA Draft.

VanVleet originally signed a contract extension back in 2020, a four-year deal worth $80 million with a fourth-year player option that was the largest contract ever signed by an undrafted player in league history at the time.

Signing with Toronto as a free agent out of Wichita State in 2016, VanVleet has spent his entire career with the Raptors. He was a pivotal piece off the bench during Toronto’s championship run back in 2019 and has since risen to the role of conducting the team’s offence over the past two seasons following the departure of Kyle Lowry.

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