Larry O’Brien Legends, Part 8: Mr. VanVleet is his Dad’s Name

As I’m sure you can imagine, I had a lot of options in mind for the Raptors. Could’ve gone the easy route with Kawhi, the eternally underrated 2020 Raptors or even gone back to the Vince Carter Raptors (sorry Bosh). I do want to stay in 2019, but focus on a storyline that I think people have forgotten. The 2019 Raptors have seemingly become the gold standard of ‘THAT GUY played on that team?!’ conversations. It seems like every non-veteran from that team is doing great things with a new team. OG just became a Knicks legend, Siakam was the 2nd best player on the 2025 Pacers, Norman Powell became an all-star and finally, our main character, Fred VanVleet became a $100M player with the Rockets. VanVleet was an undrafted prospect out of Wichita State, but quickly established himself as a valuable contributor for the Raptors. On the Raptors’ iconic Bench Mob of 2018, VanVleet may have been the most important member. He was a finalist for 6th man of the year award, ultimately finishing 3rd despite averaging just 9 points per game. His combination of shooting, playmaking and defence made him a vital cog in the Raptors’ machine. When the Kawhi trade happened, everyone said the Raptors would only have him for 1 year, if he played at all. This put a ton of pressure on the entire Raptors squad, especially the younger players. They better be ready or risk being responsible for blowing the all-in push. Fortunately, everyone stepped up to the challenge, including VanVleet. With 7 extra minutes, he stepped up his scoring to 11 points per game while retaining his great playmaking and defense with only a slight drop in efficiency. VanVleet was never gonna start with Kyle Lowry healthy, but his role in ensuring the bench guys didn’t miss a step was vital. Come playoff time though and he felt off a cliff. Through the first 2 rounds, Fred VanVleet was averaging 4.2 points per game on horrific 28% shooting, including 20% from 3. He didn’t score more than 5 points in any game of Toronto’s 2nd round series against Philly. He was looking like a massive disappointment, until something happened. On May 20th, 2019, Fred VanVleet’s first son (2nd child) Fred VanVleet Jr. was born. Prior to attending the birth, Fred had played 3 games in the conference finals against Milwaukee and continued struggling. He averaged 3.3 points per game on 20% shooting and 18% from 3. He returned to the Raptors for game 4 and something clicked. Whether the birth of his son inspired him to step up his game or stepping away from the game cleared his mind, Fred VanVleet became a new man. From game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals to Game 6 of the NBA finals, he averaged 15 points per game on 51% shooting from the field and 53% from 3. In game 5 against Milwaukee, VanVleet set a career high (at the time) in 3s with 7 as he helped the Raptors take down Milwaukee and later Golden State to win the Finals. As if that wasn’t good enough, he hit THE 3-pointer to give Toronto the lead late in game 6 against the Warriors that ultimately won the championship. He went from someone potentially holding back the Raptors, to being one of the key performers down the stretch after his son was born. I’m sure there are other reasons why VanVleet turned it around, but the numbers sync up too perfectly to ignore his son’s birth as a reason why. VanVleet even said as much after game 4 against Milwaukee. Regardless of its actual impact, Fred VanVleet Sr. and Jr. became Larry O’Brien Legends forever in the summer of 2019.