In a rather surprising gesture, Toronto Raptors rising star Scottie Barnes appears to have unfollowed Fred VanVleet on Instagram. It comes after FVV decided to leave Toronto to join the Houston Rockets.

VanVleet made one of the biggest moves of free agency when he signed a three-year, $130 million contract with the Rockets. The Raptors attempted to keep him, but they were out-moneyed by the Houston franchise.

Now there shouldn't really be much to talk about a player unfollowing a former teammate. After all, it's normal for athletes to do so. However, it's also hard to blame fans for coming up with all sorts of conspiracy theories and comments about the move.

For one, Scottie Barnes isn't that much active on social media. He posts from time to time, but he doesn't really engage that much compared to his peers like Kevin Durant. Second, Barnes doesn't really simply unfollow former teammates. Case in point: he's still following former Raptors teammate Yuta Watanabe. With that said, it's not surprising why some fans are coming up with various takes on the issue.

Whatever the case may be, it looks like Barnes simply wants to focus on the future of the team and what they are trying to build. Despite Fred VanVleet's departure, the team was able to sign Dennis Schroder to be his PG replacement.  The team also added Jalen McDaniels in free agency to shore up the wing position.

It doesn't look like the Raptors are done from making moves as well, and it will be interesting to see what direction they will take as they shape their roster.