“Most un-pure year of basketball”: Fred VanVleet laments how Covid has affected Toronto Raptors’ season while playing with Tampa Bay as their base

Fred VanVleet has been having a career year on a personal level, but the Raptors guard is more concerned about his team’s form.

Toronto has been in free fall since the All-Star Break. They looked slated to make the play-in tournament after a torrid start to the season, clawing their way back to .500.

But since that time, their form has been abominable to say the least. Toronto went on a 9-game losing streak straight after the All-Star weekend that put them out of playoff contention.

Kyle Lowry was dangled as trade bait, and the Lakers seemed interested in moving for him. But this deal fell through as the LakeShow realized they need not part with assets right now for the 35-year-old.

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The Raptors will now be rebuilding with Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr as their core members. It will be an exciting path for the team that is now back in the lottery for the first time in 9 seasons.

Fred VanVleet explains why this year of basketball has been ‘un-pure’ for him

VanVleet opened up about the comparatively catastrophic year of results that he and his Raptors have gone through this year in an interview with Josh Lewenberg:
“To be honest, this is probably the most un-pure year of basketball I’ve ever been a part of, just from the whole league and rushing the season back. It’s pretty much all about business this year on every level. It’s hard to hide it now.”

“The NBA is a great balance of the pure love and joy of one of the best sports in the world mixed with a billion dollar industry, and I think this year the industry side is taking precedent over some of the love and the joy… But there are good days and bad days.”

“We did vote on what season we wanted, they gave a few options and most of the players picked this option. So we’re in it, which is why I can’t complain about it, but I can point out that this is what is and the pros and cons that come with that. It’s very conflicting.”

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