TORONTO — Pascal Siakam has had his future kicked around the internet for almost a full year now. Not that it didn’t happen before that, but since the Toronto Raptors season began unravelling this time 12 months ago, and on through the February trade deadline last season and then through the summer, the two-time all-NBA forward has been front-and-centre when it comes to trade speculation.
It’s not something he’s asked for — quite the opposite, as Siakam has signalled his preference to stay in Toronto at every turn — but it’s part of the business.
From the Raptors side, their obligation is to make sure that they are assessing the market properly, both when it comes to signing a player of Siakam’s calibre to a possible deal and gauging his value across the league.
For Siakam, figuring out how to deal with his future employment being part of an endless cycle of gossip and debate is as much part of the job description as developing a counter to his patented spin move or finding ways to draw more fouls.
And just as when he attacks a mismatch in the post, through practice Siakam has arrived at a method that works when it comes to trade rumours:
“I don’t worry about that. I just live my life and try to be the best I can be every day,” Siakam told me after wrapping up practice in advance of the Raptors’ crucial four-game homestand that tips off with the first of two games with the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday. “I don’t think about it. It’s not part of what I do. I control what I can control. I’ve always understood that, and I’m getting better at it and I’m actually really good at it now.”
It will be interesting to see how much more practice he gets.
It’s fitting that the Hawks are in town as the NBA calendar flips to Dec. 15, unofficially marking the opening of the league’s trade market since — with some exceptions — it’s the date that most players who were signed to new contracts this past off-season can be included in deals.
The Hawks and Raptors discussed various permutations of a trade for Siakam this past summer, with things advancing enough that Atlanta had contacted Siakam’s representation to take measure of how open the eight-year veteran would be to signing an extension with the Hawks if the deal went through.
Nothing ended up happening, but with each club off to a lacklustre start — 10th place Atlanta (9-13) is a half-game up on the Raptors (9-14), who have lost six-of-seven games — it’s no surprise that the two teams have been linked by league insiders once again.
How it ends this time is an open question. Siakam’s goals this season have been to stay healthy and play well, and so far so good, on both fronts. He’s played in all 23 of the Raptors’ games and after a slow start adapting to incoming head coach Darko Rajakovic’s new offence, his on-court production has been in line with the level that earned him all-NBA status in 2019-20 and 2021-22, and an all-star berth last season. On a per-36-minute basis Siakam is averaging 21.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists on 49.4 per cent shooting, almost identical to his output in 2021-22, his last all-NBA season.
And full marks to Siakam, too, for aligning himself with Rajakovic and carrying himself professionally even as the business of basketball could have easily caused a fracture. Rather than sulk about not having a new contract yet and having been on the trading block for months, he’s giving every signal that he remains committed to figuring out a way to generate team success. In his mind, the struggling Raptors are in a fight and there’s no time to stay in his corner.
“The way I look at it, and that’s been in my life period, it’s never been easy,” he said Tuesday. “Hey, you got to fight. There’s going to be times where it’s hard out there … it feels like a boxing match where you get knocked down and everything. You can’t see nothing. You’re looking for your mouthpiece, trying to find anything on the floor. And the ref is counting, blood coming out of your mouth. And the thing about it is it’s going to happen more than once. So that’s a challenge. It is going to be hard. We just have to be able to overcome it. At the end of the day, like I said, we can talk about x’s and o’s and this and that. We’ve just got to be able to buckle up and go out there and do it.”
According to league sources I’ve spoken with there is expected to be a fairly robust market for the Raptors veteran, though maybe not the slam dunk of return that makes the deal a no-brainer. The Raptors, under president and general manager Masai Ujiri, aren’t known for selling low.
This is why in some corners there is an emerging view that another possible path may present itself, one where Siakam doesn’t get moved and may even end up inking an extension in the coming weeks. It wouldn’t surprise me if there have been exploratory conversations on the subject.
It’s not so much an inflection point, but it is a moment on the calendar that could drive some momentum for a decision, one way or another.
The logic plays out like this: If the Raptors sign Siakam to an extension between now and the end of December, they would be giving up the right to trade him for six months, so he would be off the table for the upcoming trade deadline.
It could work out in the longer run, however. If the two sides did reach an agreement on an extension by say, Dec. 28, Siakam would be eligible to be traded six months later, on June 28, 2024. The Raptors would essentially make themselves players in the trade market next summer — as they were this past summer — the difference being Siakam would be under contract and presumably a less risky acquisition than he was as a pending free agent.
The same logic could drive trade activity in the short term: if the Raptors don’t see themselves reaching an agreement on an extension with Siakam before Dec. 30, it might spur them to move him sooner than later. Not only would the acquiring team get Siakam for the rest of this season, but they would also have a precious few days to negotiate an extension with Siakam using his ‘Bird Rights’ (which would allow his new team to offer a richer deal than he could get on the open market) before the market opens (officially) to the rest of the league on July 1.
It’s something to watch over the next few weeks and creates an environment where the Raptors and Siakam could become mutually aligned: If — after nearly a year surveying the market — the Raptors haven’t got an offer they find satisfactory, they offer an extension to Siakam to keep their window open until they do, and Siakam gets a deal.
It might require some flexibility on term and dollars, but it might be an interesting path for each side to explore in the coming weeks.
