5. Fred VanVleet, Toronto Raptors (unrestricted)
The Toronto Raptors have two key free agents that they have to make big decisions on over the next week or so, and the first is Fred VanVleet. The 29-year-old point guard is coming off a rough season in which he struggled mightily with his overall offensive efficiency. That said, he’s still a very good player that could still very much be in the prime of his career. And we know that the market for him will be strong.
The Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic are two teams with plenty of cap space that are expected to pursue him. If the Raptors aren’t willing to give him a max extension, you’d have to imagine that one of these other teams will be willing to make that type of commitment to him. And if so, there’s a very good chance that VanVleet elects to move on.
This is the point in the list where I believe we’re going to start seeing some players change jerseys. At this point, with everything we know about VanVleet’s free agency market and the teams that could be interested, I’d be shocked if he re-signed with the Raptors. I feel strongly about VanVleet electing to move on to cash in on a big-money deal.
Confidence meter: 60 percent