More teams are pushing the Raptors to trade for Pascal Siakam: report
Another day, another Toronto Raptors trade rumour.
With the loss of starting point guard Fred VanVleet — and the signing of his replacement, Dennis Schroder — now nearly two weeks in the rearview mirror, the Raptors’ front office has one key question to answer: how exactly do they handle the rest of the roster?
With Toronto going 41-41 last season, just about any outcome seems possible for the team’s future and how exactly the front office handles the remaining players on their roster.
Much of the conversation in recent weeks has centred around veteran forward Pascal Siakam, entering the final year of his four-year, $136 million contract with Toronto at age 29. He’d be a valuable asset to just about any basketball team in the world, with the playoff pedigree of being Toronto’s No. 2 man on their 2019 championship run evidence of his ability to come up in the big moments.
And according to Sportsnet’s Michael Grange, in addition to the long-rumoured interest from the Atlanta Hawks, the Indiana Pacers are also checking in with Toronto to see if they can land the two-time All-Star.
“Per league sources, the Raptors are still listening, trying to gauge the market value for their leading scorer and leading returning – in theory – playmaker. Atlanta remains a possibility and Indiana has also reached out,” Grange wrote in an article this morning.
Siakam averaged 24.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 5.8 assists in 71 games last season. A first-round pick of Toronto in the 2016 draft, he has spent his entire professional career with the organization.
But Siakam’s love for the city of Toronto and the only franchise he’s ever known might make such a deal difficult, even if Indiana, Atlanta, or another team were to find the right assets to match.
On the day of the 2023 NBA Draft, Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report reported that Siakam will not re-sign with a team that attempts to trade for him because he prefers to remain with the Raptors.
There’s growing sentiment Toronto star Pascal Siakam — who’s on an expiring deal — would not re-sign with a team who attempts to trade for him as his preference is to remain with the Raptors, sources tell @NBAonTNT, @BleacherReport.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 22, 2023
At the very least, it’s hard to imagine the conversation around Siakam dying anytime soon, even if it does seem like he has the desire to stay with Toronto.
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