Josh Lewenberg: Fred VanVleet will play vs Dallas today. Dalano Banton won’t. Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes, Precious Achiuwa, Otto Porter Jr. and Justin Champagnie remain out for the Raptors.
A similar line of thinking informs the discussion around VanVleet, although his on-court value and his status as a culture setter going back to the Raptors championship season makes his case different. The belief is that VanVleet wants to remain a Raptor, though fit and familiarity aside, money is a factor there too. “The worst thing that could happen to Fred is to be traded,” said one league insider. “Unless you’re a superstar who is getting the max no matter what, the best way to get paid is by staying with your own team.”
According to league sources, Trent could expect a deal in the $20-million range if he opts out of the last year of his contract, which is set to pay him $18.8 million next season. In other words, the idea of a Jordan Poole or Tyler Herro-like payday – two young scorers with comparable statistical profiles as Trent Jr. who scored extensions with their own teams in the $30-million per season range — may not be readily available in free agency.
More and more, as the deadline draws near, I hear rival teams saying that they believe Detroit is poised to rebuff all trade inquiries for Bojan Bogdanovic. I was certainly among those who thought it was posturing when Detroit’s reluctance to trade Bogdanovic began to surface many weeks ago, but one league source went so far as asserting this week that the Pistons would refuse to surrender Bogdanovic even if offered that fully unprotected future first-round pick that everyone says Detroit covets.