“Yeah, he was great. I tell you what, he was hard. …
Fred VanVleet on Masai Ujiri: “Yeah, he was great. I tell you what, he was hard. Like, he was serious as f***, you know what I’m saying?
It wasn’t no bulls*** with him . But he never lied, and he always told me the truth, and he always challenged me. And I think it was coming off my second year, I was hurt in the playoffs, and I think he was looking at me like he thought I was trying to sit out so I could get paid.
But I really was hurt, though. So he pulled me to the side. He like, ‘Look, I’m going to tell you some real s***.
It’s never been one of us that I ain’t paid. You know what I’m saying? It ain’t my money.
I’m going to pay you what you deserve, but I need you to do what you need to do. ’ Like, all right. He was like, ‘The only guy I never paid, I traded him to the team he wanted to go to.