Fredderick Edmund VanVleet Sr. (born February 25, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
A point guard, VanVleet played college basketball for Wichita State University before beginning his NBA career. 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 was named as a 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball All-American by a variety of media outlets. As a junior for the 2014–15 Shockers, he was an All-Missouri Valley Conference first team selection and received All-American honorable mention recognition from the Associated Press. VanVleet is the Wichita State career assists leader and was named Missouri Valley Conference 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 with their G League affiliate, Raptors 905, during the 2016–17 season; he was a member of Raptors 905's 2017 championship team. VanVleet went on to become a key player for the Raptors and won an NBA championship with the team in 2019. He owns the single game points record not only for the Raptors, but also for any undrafted NBA player, when he scored 54 against Orlando in 2021. VanVleet was named to his first NBA All-Star Game in 2022.
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." He received basketball scholarship offers from Colorado State, Northern Illinois, Wichita State, Southern Illinois, Drake, Detroit, and Kent State. His stepfather felt that he was being overlooked by many Chicago metropolitan area schools because of his decision not to join a Chicago AAU team. He cut his list down to Kent State, Northern Illinois, and Wichita State. When he 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 (versus Gonzaga and Ohio State) in the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I 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 sixteen appearance by a number 9 seed since the tournament went to 64 teams in 1985. His 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.
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 8 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, he was named one of the 10 semi-finalists for the Naismith Award.