Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam were “deeply frustrated” with the Toronto Raptors’ young players last NBA season, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.
The Raptors won only 41 games in 2022-23. They lost the 9-10 play-in game at home to the Chicago Bulls and didn’t qualify for the 2023 postseason. Nick Nurse was fired as head coach after the season ended.
“Sources have described a team where the veterans — VanVleet and Siakam especially — were deeply frustrated with the younger players on the roster and VanVleet let them know about it, something the younger set didn’t appreciate at all,” Grange wrote. “Nurse wasn’t able to bridge the divide as key players kept getting hurt and open three after open three drew only iron.”
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam & Toronto Raptors Updates
VanVleet left the Raptors and joined the Houston Rockets on a three-year, $130 million contract. Before Toronto lost to Chicago in the 9-10 play-in game, VanVleet spoke with Heavy Sports senior insider Steve Bulpett and sounded like a guy who was frustrated with losing.
“Talent by itself is just not good enough,” VanVleet said. “You know, you’ve still got to do everything right every single day. You’ve got to be able to play as a team. You have to be able to execute and close out games. Like, there’s so many other things that go into it. We could have no talent, so let’s start there. We could be in a situation where we don’t have talent. But like I said, we’ve just got to continue to find ways to be better as a group and do something with the talent that we have.”
It will be interesting to see how patient VanVleet is in Houston. The Rockets won just 22 games last season.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam & Toronto Raptors Updates
With VanVleet gone, everyone around the NBA is wondering what the Raptors are going to do with Siakam, who has one year left on his contract. Several teams are interested in trading for the forward, but it’s unknown if Toronto wants to part ways with Siakam.
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