Fredderick Edmund VanVleet Sr. (born February 25, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is also the current president of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).
A point guard, VanVleet played college basketball for Wichita State University. He contributed to a resurgence of Wichita State Shockers basketball that included a Final Four run by the 2012–13 Shockers team and an undefeated regular season by the 2013–14 team. VanVleet is the Wichita State career assists leader and was named MVC Men's Basketball Player of the Year as both a sophomore and a senior.
After going undrafted in the 2016 NBA draft, VanVleet signed with the Toronto Raptors. He spent time with the Raptors and their G League affiliate, Raptors 905, during the 2016–17 season and was a member of Raptors 905's 2017 championship team. He went on to become a key player for the Raptors and won an NBA championship with the team in 2019. He was named to his first NBA All-Star Game in 2022.
Early life VanVleet was born on February 25, 1994, in Rockford, Illinois, to Susan VanVleet and Fred Manning. His father was murdered in 1999 when VanVleet was five years old. His mother later remarried Joe Danforth, a U.S. Army veteran and retired police officer of the Rockford Police Department, who became VanVleet's stepfather and also served as his personal trainer.
High school career VanVleet played for Auburn High School in Rockford, Illinois, where he was an All-State first-team selection by the Chicago Sun-Times (Class 4A), Associated Press (Class 4A), and Chicago Tribune as a senior in 2012. In 2012, VanVleet helped lead Auburn to a 22-game winning streak which resulted in the school's first Illinois High School Association (IHSA) final four since 1975. He led the Knights to a 3rd-place finish in the IHSA state tournament.
VanVleet remained loyal to his local Rockford Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) club team rather than accept offers to more high-profile teams in Chicago. VanVleet did not feel it would make a difference in his recruiting: "As long as you're leading whoever you're playing with, the coaches are going to see that. If they see you competing and winning with guys maybe I shouldn't be winning with, that's maybe even an advantage for me." VanVleet received basketball scholarship offers from Colorado State, Northern Illinois, Wichita State, Southern Illinois, Drake, Detroit Mercy, and Kent State. His stepfather felt that VanVleet was being overlooked by many Chicago metropolitan area schools because of his decision not to join a Chicago AAU team. VanVleet cut his list down to Kent State, Northern Illinois and Wichita State. When VanVleet accepted an offer to play for Wichita State, he became the only member of the national class of 2012 Rivals.com top 150 to attend a Missouri Valley Conference school.
College career
Freshman year
As a freshman, VanVleet contributed double-digit scoring twice against Gonzaga and Ohio State in the 2013 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament from off the bench as the 2012–13 Shockers team reached the final four. Against Gonzaga, his 13 points included a basket with 1:28 remaining that helped the Shockers secure only the fifth Sweet 16 appearance by a #9 seed since the tournament went to 64 teams in 1985. VanVleet's 12 points against Ohio State included a late basket that helped the Shockers become the fifth team with a seeding higher than eight to make it to the final four since 1979 when seeding began. VanVleet was mentored by senior Malcolm Armstead.
Sophomore year VanVleet broke out as a sophomore, as expected. On January 23, 2014, he was selected to the 23-man Oscar Robertson Award midseason watchlist by the United States Basketball Writers Association. On February 17, Vanvleet was selected as one of 23 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award. When the Rockford native returned to the Chicago metropolitan area on February 19 to lead Wichita State against Loyola, he went 6-for-6 from the field and 10-for-10 on his free throw attempts for a game-high 22 points and added eight rebounds and 6 assists to help Wichita State raise its record to 28–0. The 28–0 Shockers (Cleanthony Early, Tekele Cotton, VanVleet, Ron Baker and Chadrack Lufile) appeared on the cover of the February 24, 2014 Sports Illustrated. On February 28, VanVleet was named one of the ten semi-finalists for the Naismith Award.
VanVleet helped lead the 2013–14 team to the first 31–0 regular season in NCAA Division I men's basketball history. As a result, he was named to the MVC All-Conference first team and selected as the MVC Men's Basketball Player of the Year. VanVleet was also selected to the 2014 MVC Most-Improved Team. Following the 2014 MVC men's basketball tournament, he was a 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball All-American second-team selection by Sports Illustrated and Bleacher Report, third-team selection by the Sporting News and the NABC. VanVleet earned honorable mention recognition from the Associated Press. On March 11, he was named to the all-District VI (IA, MO, KS, OK, NE, ND, SD) team by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). VanVleet was listed on the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division I All‐District 16 first team on March 12. He was named as one of six finalists for the Cousy Award (along with Kyle Anderson, Aaron Craft, Tyler Ennis, Shabazz Napier and Marcus Paige). For the season, VanVleet led the MVC in assists per game (5.36). Following his sophomore season, VanVleet delivered the commencement address at his high school alma mater and became a highly demanded public speaker.
Junior year
VanVleet was Preseason All-American first-team selection by USA Today, Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, Bleacher Report, CBSSports.com, Sports Illustrated and Associated Press. He was a second-team selection by Athlon Sports, SB Nation and NBCSports.com. In its preseason top 100 player ranking, VanVleet was listed at number 5 by ESPN. He was named to the 36-man Bob Cousy Award Preseason Watch List. VanVleet was also listed as a John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 candidate and an Oscar Robertson Trophy Watch List selection. VanVleet was also included in the early December Naismith Award top 50 watch list.
On November 14, VanVleet had seven steals in the opener against New Mexico State, tying a school record. On December 3, against #25 Utah, VanVleet helped Wichita State recover from a nine-point deficit in the final 2:45 of regulation with eight points (including two three-point shots in the final 1:15) and an assist on a three-point shot, but with seven seconds remaining in overtime and Wichita trailing by one, he missed the front end of a one and one. In his return visit to Chicago and the Gentile Center to play Loyola on January 11, VanVleet was perfect from the field again with a 5-for-5 performance and added a career-high-tying 10 assists (as well as 6 rebounds and 3 steals) for his first career double-double. However, VanVleet snapped his perfect streak of 20 free throws made in his home state with a 3-for-4 performance. In the rematch against Loyola on January 28, VanVleet posted a career-high 27 points. On February 7, he posted the first triple-double for Wichita State Shockers men's basketball in 43 years with a 10-point, 10-rebound and 11-assist performance (to go along with four steals) against Missouri State. On February 16, VanVleet was MVC Co-player of the Week (with Seth Tuttle). On February 26, he broke the all-time Wichita State career assist record against Evansville with 431 assists, surpassing Warren Jabali who had 429 and Toure' Murry who had 430. VanVleet was one of 17 finalists for the Cousy Award. The Shockers defeated Northern Iowa on February 28 to win the MVC regular-season title. In the opening game of the 2015 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament for the Shockers, VanVleet matched a career high with 27 points against Indiana. He finished the tournament with 17-point and 25-point performances against #2-seeded Kansas and #3-seeded Notre Dame, respectively. For the season, VanVleet repeated as the MVC in assists per game (5.23) leader.
VanVleet was named an All-MVC first-team selection following the regular season. He was also recognized by the Associated Press as an honorable mention selection for its All-America team.
Senior year VanVleet was a selection to the 20-man Bob Cousy Award preseason watchlist, and the 30-man Lute Olson Award preseason watchlist. He was a second-team selection to the Sporting News, Sports Illustrated and Athlon Sports preseason All-American teams. VanVleet was a third-team selection to the CBS Sports, USA Today and NBC Sports preseason All-American teams. Lindy's Sports did not name an All-America team, but did rank all college basketball players by position and presented a top 25 list at each position. It included VanVleet as its second-best point guard. In preseason top 100 player rankings, he was ranked 14th by ESPN and 17th by NBC Sports. VanVleet made the initial 50-man John R. Wooden Award watch list on November 17. On December 2, he earned recognition on the 50-man Naismith College Player of the Year watchlist and 33-man Robertson Trophy watchlists.