Fred VanVleet Bet On Himself And Now He's Walking Away With A $130 Million Dollar Max Deal

Andrew Lahodynskyj. Getty Images.

At some point, someone was going to have to take the Houston Rockets' money. The team literally has to give away at least $52M of their $60M in cap space to hit the salary floor for next season. As the day went on and more and more deals were announced, we never heard about Fred VanVleet and the Rockets. There were plenty of rumors leading into 6pm, and that was a move I figured would have been one of the first announcements of free agency. 

What was taking so long?

As you can see, it was a 3 year max deal. The first of the offseason, Fred VanVleet once again bet on himself by turning down his player option and now he goes from an undrafted player to a max player. Not a bad gig if you can get it, and then you remember there's no state income tax either and things are even better. Will they win? Who knows, the West is stacked. But max money and only 3 years is quick enough to just collect a quick $130M and then hit the market again with the new TV money coming in. Seems like VanVleet actually has everything figured out.

It doesn't even really matter if you don't think FVV is worth the max. At a time like this, I always think back to Jalen Rose

The market said he was. All it takes is one team, and the Rockets were in a unique position for FVV to capitalize on. He's going to make them better, there's no doubt about that, it's basically each side doing the other a solid. VanVleet gives the Rockets legit talent and experience while not tying them up long term, and in return he gets a fuck ton of money and everyone's happy.

For the Raptors, you have to wonder if this is a turning point. They brought back Jakob Poeltl with 4/80M so it's clear they were trying to run it back, but with Fred gone could they change course and move some of their wings? Does this make OG Anunoby or Pascal Siakam available? Or, do they now look at the free agent market for someone like DLo? He's probably the best one out there, and that's not all that great either. The last place you want to be is stuck in the middle, and that was kind of already going to be a problem if the Raptors kept VanVleet. Now having to replace him with a guy who is probably worse, isn't exactly an ideal spot to be in.

The Rockets still have more money to spend so they certainly shouldn't be done, with all the attention most likely going to Brook Lopez. We're only 3 hours into this thing and history says we're in for a long and crazy night. I mean if Fred VanVleet can walk out of free agency with a max I'd say anything is possible.

Good for him though. Betting on himself continues to pay off.