Sources – Raptors’ Fred VanVleet, the nixes’ option, to become a free agent

VanVleet has not ruled out negotiating a new deal and the Raptors’ return, sources said, but he has become one of the more prominent guards in the market and an immediate target for teams with plenty of space and many contenders who would welcome discussions about signing-trade scenarios with Toronto, sources said.

There are teams with little or no salary room that will have the mechanisms to follow VanVleet, who has consistently shown himself as a key point guard with the potential to influence a Raptors win.

There have been several rival teams that discussed VanVleet trade deadline deals with the Raptors. These conversations can be revisited in free agency.

VanVleet, 29, played his entire NBA career for seven years with the Raptors, playing a massive role in the 2019 NBA Championship Series.

VanVleet averaged 19.3 points and a best 7.2 assists last season, ranking in the top 10 in assists-to-turnover ratio. VanVleet had six 25-point, 10-assist games last season — the most in a single season for a Toronto player since Damon Stoudamire in 1996-97, according to ESPN Stats & Information Research.

VanVleet ranks third in the NBA in steals (1.8) and first in deflections per game, according to ESPN Stats & Information. His place in Raptors history has been impressive. He is one of two players (along with Kyle Lowry) to own 1,000 three-pointers. He’s also one of two players with a franchise single-game record for points and assists — along with Wilt Chamberlain and the 76ers, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

Over the past three seasons, VanVleet has averaged 37.1 minutes a game — second most in the NBA after teammate Pascal Siakam. In fact, VanVleet has led the NBA in miles traveled per game each of the past three seasons, per Spectrum II tracking data.