Raptors rookie Markquis Nowell could wind up following the Fred VanVleet route

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There may never be another player like Fred VanVleet that dons the jersey of the Toronto Raptors, but there may be a story in the making with a ton of similarities to that of the former Raptors point guard. 

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At just 5-foot-8, Markquis Nowell even is a little more vertically challenged than the almost 6-foot VanVleet, who now works in Houston. But, in the NBA, six feet and below is reserved for only the chosen few. 

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Nowell saw VanVleet overcome that stigma. He saw the same from New Orleans point guard Jose Alvarado, who also tops out at barely six feet and, like both VanVleet and Nowell, went undrafted.  

Now it’s Nowell’s turn and, like VanVleet, he’ll have to navigate his way without the boost the investment of a draft pick gets a player. 

The undrafted Nowell signed a two-way contract with Toronto just after last June’s draft and is in Vancouver this week with the Raptors, once again defying the odds just as he has done his whole basketball life.

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But just getting to camp isn’t the goal. Like VanVleet and Alvarado, Nowell is intent on finding a home in the NBA. 

VanVleet makes it his business to keep tabs on players like himself who enter the league possessing none of that high-flying, above-the-rim athleticism — he also was drawn to point guards, no surprise there — that excites so many of the followers of the game.

He knows first-hand how far hard work, attention to detail, basketball IQ and tenacity can take you and, when he sees it, he acknowledges it. 

He saw it in Alvarado when he happened to walk into a Raptors pre-draft workout in Tampa during the Raptors’ year-away-from-home and he has seen it in Nowell as well. 

Nowell actually was friendly with Alvarado before he and VanVleet became acquainted. But he sees similarities in all their journeys. 

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For Nowell, having that kind of success story to point to and actually have a connection to makes those moments when his own tough road gets particularly difficult much more bearable. 

“Fred VanVleet is one of the guys I looked up to growing up,” Nowell said, ignoring the fact that VanVleet is just six years older. “Just seeing his story and how he grew from the ground up is just a blessing to see and now I’m kind of in a similar situation. And I’m getting his support, so it means a lot.” 

It was Nowell, however, that reached out to VanVleet, who is now just a phone call away when advice or support is needed.

You can make the argument that Nowell may have even a slight edge over where VanVleet was when he came out of college. Nowell arrives as a consensus three-time all-American and won the prestigious Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top male point guard. 

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It’s an award that has been won by the likes of Ja Morant, Jalen Brunson and Kemba Walker in the past. 

Nowell, though, isn’t counting on any of that to help him reach his next target. 

“I had a lot of good accolades in college, but my size is the reason I have to go through what I have to go through,” he said. “It has been that way my whole life so it’s not something new to me. I’m just going to take advantage of my opportunities, take advantage of what God has given me and use it to the best of my abilities.” 

Nowell is well aware of VanVleet’s debut with the Raptors in training camp, when he picked up Kyle Lowry full-court in the first scrimmage and didn’t let up on him the rest of camp. 

It earned VanVleet rave reviews from the coaching staff and what would become a deep and enduring respect that would turn into a friendship from Lowry, who is not easily won over. 

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“It’s been a thought on my mind,” Nowell said of that first camp scrimmage. “Whoever I need to pick up in that moment, that’s what I’m going to do because I know that will be what gets me on the court. I want to be able to play minutes at the highest level, not really so much in the G-League but if I have to, I have to, but I want to be in the NBA.” 

The template for the path to do that has been set. Nowell knows it well, having spoken about it with both VanVleet and Alvarado. 

“It’s pretty much the same,” he said of the advice he has received from those two or any of his already-in-the-league friends, a list which includes Atlanta’s Trae Young and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell. 

“We just got to be the toughest guys on the court every single time we touch the court,” he said. “Just play with that passion and do the things people are afraid to do or don’t want to do. That will get us by and get us to where we want to be.” 

Ahead of him on the Toronto depth chart at point guard as camp began were Dennis Schroder, Scottie Barnes, Jeff Dowtin Jr. and Malachi Flynn. 

If that group sounds daunting, consider what VanVleet was looking at in his first year behind Lowry, Cory Joseph and Delon Wright. 

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