Toronto Raptors’ Fred VanVleet speaks at the MLSE LaunchPad in Toronto on July 6, 2018.Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press
The Toronto Raptors have announced that they have signed point guard Fred VanVleet to a two-year contract.
The deal, worth a reported US$18 million, was reported earlier this week, but couldn’t be officially confirmed until the NBA’s free agency moratorium period ended on Friday.
VanVleet was the force that drove the Raptors’ highly effective bench last season and was a finalist for the NBA’s sixth man of the year award.
The 24-year-old, who stands just six feet tall, averaged 8.6 points and 3.2 assists, and shot 41.4 per cent from three-point range.
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.