Amid his truthful clarification that he and the Toronto Raptors have agreed not to reach a deal yet, Fred VanVleet still firmly believes that he deserves a much more lucrative bag.
VanVleet told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps that he already surpassed his value from the previous contract he earned while noting that he only hopes to put himself in a better position from both financial and personal standpoints.
“Without going too far into it … [I’m] just trying to put myself in a good position business-wise, and not take an extension on a deal that was made three or four years ago,” VanVleet told ESPN.
“I felt like I’ve outplayed that contract thus far. So just trying to get myself in a position to put the cards in their hands. They got to make a decision from an organization standpoint.”
VanVleet remains under contract with the Raptors, honored by the four-year, $85 million deal he inked with them last 2020 offseason. As such, he holds a player option for the next season with $22.8 million in amount.
As he is hoping to earn a bigger paycheck, VanVleet is currently finding hardships this season. Coming off an All-Star campaign last year, his performance and efficiency suddenly dipped – registering 18.6 points but shooting 37.7 percent from the field while having a career-worst 32.9 percent efficiency from three.
As such, despite the close relationship he formed with the Raps franchise, VanVleet certainly understands that he has to put the work within himself in order for both sides to meet their respective terms.
“I love being here. I love being a Raptor. I got a great relationship with (team president) Masai (Ujiri) and (general manager) Bobby (Webster), so I’m confident that we could find (a deal). It’s a great partnership that we have, so going forward, I’m not going to make it easy on them and they’re not going to make it on me either, and that’s the way it’s going.”
