The Toronto Raptors took a massive blow when Fred VanVleet decided to take his talents to the Houston Rockets. At the end of the day, you can't really blame the man for agreeing to a massive three-year max deal worth a whopping $130 million — money that Toronto was unwilling and unable to pay him.

At this point, however, it seems that the Raptors have already unearthed FVV's second coming. This comes in the form of undrafted rookie Markquis Nowell, who is already generating a lot of hype from the front office early on:

“An up and down Summer League, but speaking to people in the Raps front office about Nowell, they haven’t been this excited about an undrafted player since VanVleet. Some obvious similarities (path to NBA/size) but like FVV at that stage, his feel for the game is well beyond his years,” wrote Raptors beat reporter Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports in a tweet.

Obviously, Nowell won't come in as a one-for-one replacement for VanVleet this coming season. Given what he brought to the table for the Raptors, it's just not going to be easy to fill the void FVV has left now that he's gone to greener pastures. However, there is indeed a lot to be excited about for Markquis Nowell, especially considering the fact that they didn't even need to use a draft pick to scoop him up. Toronto obviously has a track record for bringing out the best in undrafted guys, and they're now hoping that it's going to be the same case for Nowell.