luss54321 wrote:1 good season is sometimes all it takes to get paid in the NBA. You just have to get the timing right.
And sometimes you're a UDFA who blooms a bit later, but shows consistent results with increased responsibility and pressure over 4 years with the same team, while developing leadership skills and a reputation for working hard, getting championship experience, and becomes a coveted free agent.
This is a much better deal than Gordon Hayward's. Given current market rates for a guard who can score 20 on 40% volume 3pt shooting, dish 6 assists efficiently without being the primary ball-handler, and be among the league leaders in steals, this seems like a very team-friendly contract that allows VanVleet to prove he continues to grow consistently and be in his prime for a major pay day with the PO after 3 years. He gives maximum effort on every play and has shown every indication he's the consummate team player.
VanVleet is showing he can produce comparable numbers to someone like Jrue Holiday, whom Milwaukee traded Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, three first-round picks, and two future pick swaps to get. Granted, Jrue
has done it for years. But, on the other hand, Jrue has been doing it for
years. VanVleet's growth projects along roughly similar lines, and doesn't hamper the teams plans to land a big FA after this season, and is making $5m less per year than Holiday on his current deal.
Malcolm Brogdon has a comparable deal to VanVleet and has put up similar numbers over a similar timeframe for a similar team. I would argue that VanVleet has better upside and more valuable skillset, but I don't think you can argue that his contract is worse than Brogdon's.
I also don't think that you can say VanVleet is clearly worth less on the open market right now than Teague, Rozier, Dragic, Rubio, or Bledsoe, who are all paid right below VanVleet's deal, in the $17-$19m per year range.