Raptors’ Siakam not “championship-altering” according to 76ers: report

Jan 24 2022, 5:44 pm

The Philadelphia 76ers don’t believe Pascal Siakam can lead them to a championship.

On one hand, well, duh.

Siakam, of course, remains a Toronto Raptor, in the midst of one of his best career seasons after missing the first ten games due to a shoulder injury.

But on the other hand, the versatile forward Siakam’s name has been tossed around in trade rumours all season long, with the latest wrinkle being him being linked as part of a deal to the 76ers centred around point guard Ben Simmons.

The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported today that the 76ers had internally discussed a trade package for Siakam (as well as Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox or Indiana’s Domantas Sabonis), but “organizationally they have felt that those players were not championship-altering, perfect fits on the roster.”

Charania had previously reported that the Raptors had approached the 76ers in the offseason about a possible trade package for Simmons, though no further details about the contents of the trade came out.

There’s a lot to break down here.

Siakam, of course, has already “altered” a team’s odds at a championship: putting up 19.0 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 24 games in the 2019 playoffs en route to Toronto’s first NBA title.

But the 76ers aren’t looking at the past.

The 2020 All-Star Siakam and the three-time All-Star Simmons have both had publicly documented slumps, but face two different realities when it comes to their current situation.

In Siakam’s case, the Raptors have continuously backed him up, and he’s returned to averaging 21.2 points per game, as well as career-highs with 4.9 assists and 8.9 rebounds per game this year. The Raptors have no urgency or need to move on from Siakam.

On the other hand, Simmons has yet to play this year by his own choice, with a stalemate between organization playing out in a season-long saga with disagreements about his fit on the roster.

Charania added that the impasse could last all year, with the 76ers opting to try to move Simmons in the offseason rather than prior to the February 10 trade deadline if they don’t find a deal to their liking.

A Ben Simmons trade to Toronto — or anywhere — would be the story of the NBA season so far.

In a tight Eastern Conference, the Simmons-less 76ers hold the sixth seed with a 27-19 record.

With Philadelphia centre Joel Embiid in the MVP conversation once again after finishing second in voting last season, there should be a sense of urgency to improve the roster over the next two and a half weeks.

In many ways, the 76ers are like the 2014-2018 Raptors — they’ve had a bevy of regular season success, but struggled to put it together in the playoffs. Regular season success has never been an issue with the 76ers, but they remain a long shot to find playoff glory this year. Current Vegas odds place them as ninth most likely to win the NBA championship, with just a 25-1 shot at the title.

It’s not a perfect comparison, but there are definite parallels between the two teams.

And Philadelphia should look no further than Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan-Kawhi Leonard swap to see how “championship-altering” moving a star player can be, with the trade being the most crucial piece to Toronto’s 2019 title.

Since Simmons made his NBA debut in 2017 after being drafted first overall a year prior, just two NBA teams — Milwaukee and Golden State — have more than Philadelphia’s 222 regular season wins.

But four consecutive playoff runs have ended in the second round or earlier, with much of the blame being directed towards the 25-year-old Australian guard.

For now, at least, Simmons remains in Philadelphia, while — unsurprisingly — Siakam remains in Toronto. Unless further details leak out — which is unlikely due to the highly secretive history of the Raptors’ front office, we’ll never know if this deal was seriously discussed.

Adam LaskarisAdam Laskaris

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