Toronto Raptors' Pascal Siakam drives at Cleveland Cavaliers' Max Strus in Toronto on Jan. 1. The Raptors traded Siakam to the Indiana Pacers Wednesday.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Back in the day, everyone in sports had an up-from-nothing story. Nowadays, your typical pro comes from suburban wealth and costs more to develop than the Bionic Man.
In that sense, Pascal Siakam is a throwback. Born in Cameroon; destined for the priesthood; didn’t get serious about basketball until he was 17. Drafted by the Raptors at the age of 22 – a nowhere-close-to-finished project who was already geriatric by modern standards. Siakam worked his way out of the G League and onto the NBA squad.
At that point, it was already a Disney script, but it kept getting better. Siakam came into his own just as the Raptors were becoming a championship team. When Kawhi Leonard left, he inherited the franchise.
For an instant there, Siakam was in Michael Jordan country. An unappreciated youngster who, through force of will, redefines a franchise.
Except he didn’t.
On Wednesday, according to multiple reports, the Raptors finally got rid of Siakam. Despite a high level of individual play, he’d never become the dominant force the team had hoped. He was a No. 2 guy asked to play as a No. 1 and getting paid as an all-timer.
In the end, it comes down to one number – seven. That’s how many years older Siakam (29) is than Toronto’s new alpha, Scottie Barnes (22). Barnes isn’t quite a fully formed star yet. The Raptors were not willing to continue paying a diminishing Siakam until Barnes becomes one.
First and foremost, this is Raptors president Masai Ujiri reprising his role as Sweeney Todd. Not since he finished off DeMar DeRozan has Ujiri brought such ruthlessness to his handling of a fan favourite.
Ujiri loved Siakam. He loved that he’d been one of the first people to spot greatness in him. He loved that Siakam showed so well for Africa’s basketball development.
But when Siakam became a drag on the Raptors prospects, Ujiri parked him on the front lawn with a ‘For Sale’ sign in the window and waited.
Short of renting billboards, Siakam did everything he could to let people know he preferred to stay in Toronto. The ‘For Sale’ sign did not budge. Finally, the Indiana Pacers gave in and met Ujiri’s price.
Unlike the recent OG Anunoby-for-New-York’s-luxury-hand-me-downs, Toronto’s haul in this deal is excellent.
After years spent buried under 40 feet of crap, the Indiana Pacers are having a moment. Not a big moment, but a moment of some sort. They have a future best-in-the-game type player in Tyrese Haliburton. Their immediate need is someone to take the pressure off him. Short-term, Siakam can be that guy. Maybe even medium term.
In return, Indiana has paid market rates. According to ESPN, the Raptors get a few bodies and three first-round picks (two in 2024, one in 2026).
Part of the deal is optics. The Raptors already traded away their own first-rounder. That pick is top-six protected. Before last night’s games, Toronto was tied for sixth worst in the league. You know in your bones the Raptors are going to end up seventh and lose their chance at a guy who turns out to be a hall of famer.
That’s the sort of thing that turns fanbases feral. So the Raptors had to have a first-round pick. Now they have two.
The NBA thrives on mimicry. Whoever did it best and last has done it the way it should be done. The current way of doing things is the Oklahoma City way.
The Thunder didn’t tank so much as tunnel. On the way down, they shed all of their human assets in return for picks. If you were allowed to trade clubbies and concession gift certificates for picks, the Thunder would have. The result is the most exciting young team in the NBA, anchored by Hamiltonian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Oklahoma has 37 picks in the next seven drafts. Fifteen of them are first-rounders. That’s three basketball teams’ worth of players.
So while it may not be that maximum picks equals maximum chance at success, that is the way everyone thinks it works right now.
After years spent watching talent walk out the door for nothing or close to, the Raptors have finally, confusingly surrendered to fashion. Whether they’ve done so quickly enough to capitalize on Barnes’s best years is an open question. Soon enough, the future will be the only thing people want to talk about when it comes to this team.
Because the present is now officially awful. Even worse than the recent past, which is saying something.
At the beginning of the season, the Raptors fooled themselves (and a few others) into believing they were still a team of substance. They’re a team of dust now. They’re Scottie Barnes & A Few Unusually Tall, Semi-Co-ordinated Friends.
After several years of dithering, this team finally has its co-ordinates locked in – straight down, maximum warp.
Siakam was the last remaining Raptor starter who’d been there when Toronto beat Golden State in 2019. It’s fitting that he gets to put the lights out on that era. He wasn’t the best player on that squad, but he best exemplified that group’s outsider spirit. At some point, they’d all been written off. Siakam was so far outside the loop that until he got to the top, no one had ever bothered to write him in. It was a great story, and still is.
But five years is an age in the NBA, and business maxims apply. If you’re not growing, you’re shrinking. Siakam couldn’t find a way to make a contending group coalesce around him. So a new No. 1 – Barnes – gets his shot.
Whatever happens over the rest of his career, Siakam has already ridden his ability and his good fortune to the pinnacle of his profession. When it comes to up-by-their-bootstraps types, there weren’t many then or there certainly aren’t many now who can claim that.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article stated incorrectly that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is from Toronto. He is from Hamilton. This version has been updated.