Toronto Raptor Fred VanVleet using his adorable son to win over fans and it's working
Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet's adorable infant son has proven to be a key factor in the player's Cinderella story of a career.
FVV Jr's birth during the Raptors' historic 2019 championship run ignited his father's absolute inferno of a showing in what proved to be the team's crowning moment, and the fan favourite kid wonder is assisting his senior's career yet again.
Steady Freddy is arguably among the hottest players in the NBA's Eastern Conference right now, but you wouldn't know it from his All-Star votes, currently ranked tenth among guards by fans and polling far below players who haven't performed as well this season.
Enter FVV Jr., his father busting out the nuclear option and pulling on fans' collective heartstrings with a video of the adorable pair going through basketball drills together, complete with pylons and a little hoop.
Just a couple of All-Stars ❤️#FredVanVleet | #NBAAllStar
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) January 11, 2022
⭐️ 1 RT = 1 Vote ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/HKqdUGQHk5
The Raptors Twitter account, knowing full well how much the public adores FVV Jr., shared the brief clip of the father-son duo laughing and playing, with each retweet of the video officially counting as an All-Star vote.
Raptors NBAChampion baby #FreddyJr prepping for his debut on Raptors in a few years
— In Masai We Trust (@lisaovc) January 11, 2022
And it seems to be working, netting the guards thousands more votes as people soak in the cuteness.
I hate how they scammed me into retweeting this because of the baby in the video 😭
— Neicy Smith (@NeicySmithIII) January 11, 2022
Many are playing along with the joke that this infant could take them one-on-one, but one fan claims to be up to the challenge.
Respectfully that baby ain’t doin shit to me on iso
— ryan 🦦 (@AnunobyDynasty) January 11, 2022
The Raptors organization clearly understands the love fans have for the VanVleet father-son relationship, previous clips of FVV Jr. asking when his father would be coming home from "work" and his painfully cute birthday party going viral last year.
But there was another cute cameo that has people talking here, a little dog visible scampering away in the background during the first few seconds of the clip.
I DEMAND PICS OF THAT DOG THAT WALKS BY AT THE BEGINNING. THANK YOU.
— colin b (@L33TLi3kJeffk) January 11, 2022
Dog photo requests are very valid, though the main chatter revolves around the kid's obvious skills in development, many thinking we're seeing a future star in the making.
