Fred VanVleet is officially out for Sunday's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers due to personal reasons. The Toronto Raptors guard and his fiancée, Shontai Neal, welcomed their third child to the world earlier this weekend.
Dad Fred VanVleet 3.0 🙌🏻 Congrats to Fred and his family! pic.twitter.com/CTQLQhr2zB
— 𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞 (@AaronBenRose) February 26, 2023
Sunday's game marks the third straight VanVleet will miss while tending to his family. He was also sidelined for the Raptors' win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday and their victory against the Detroit Pistons two days later. Coincidentally, Saturday also marked his 29th birthday.
VanVleet is averaging 19.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game in 2022-23, shooting 39.4% from the floor and 34.4% on triples. While those numbers lag ones that propelled VanVleet to his first career All-Star appearance last season, he's nevertheless been a bellwether for Toronto offensively. The Raptors score 4.0 more points per 100 possessions with VanVleet on the floor, second-best on the team behind Pascal Siakam, per Cleaning the Glass.
Toronto surprised the NBA world by standing pat at the trade deadline, not just hanging onto impending free agents VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr., but also long-rumored trade candidate O.G. Anunoby. Instead of selling off quality veterans for a quick rebuild around Siakam and Scottie Barnes, the Raptors were buyers on February 9th, filling their hole in the middle by acquiring Jakob Poeltl from the San Antonio Spurs.
Nick Nurse's team enters Sunday's action having won its past four games, moving up to ninth in the Eastern Conference at 30-31. Toronto and fourth-place Cleveland tipoff at 3:00 p.m. (PT) from Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
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