Siakam thought Raptors were going to win multiple championships
Pascal Siakam is no longer a member of the Toronto Raptors, but he seems to be still motivated by the team’s playoff runs—or lack thereof.
In a video he posted to social media of a speech given to fellow players as part of a summer scrimmage, Siakam opened up a bit about how he thought Toronto would win another title after claiming the NBA championship in 2019.
Caught a feeling on some @ricohinesbball sh*t pic.twitter.com/KukiMpOx9n
— pascal siakam (@pskills43) September 12, 2024
But despite Siakam’s wishes, the Raptors have yet to return past the second round of the playoffs in the last five years. In his first season with the Indiana Pacers after being traded mid-season, Siakam made it to the Eastern Conference Finals but was promptly swept by the eventual champion Boston Celtics.
“You get comfortable. We’re gonna get back to it… ‘Yeah, that’s just easy.’ I won a championship [in 2019]. I was like, third year, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh man, I’ll be right back to it.’ I didn’t even [come close] until recently. It probably took four or five years. Keep that focus in mind when we go into the season, and we all need every single one here. We never know what happens,” Siakam said in the video.
Siakam averaged 22.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.9 assists in 39 games for the Raptors this season while putting up 21.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 41 games for the Pacers following the trade. In the postseason, those numbers stayed about on line, as he averaged 21.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.8 assists in 17 games in the 2024 playoffs.
Siakam also advised his young teammates to always keep trying, even late in a game that might not be close, which is commonly known as “garbage time.”
“That sh*t is important because [coaches and the front office are] watching that. If you go out there, we put you there for four minutes, and you can’t do nothing, then we’ll put you in when the game is on the line? No. So when you go into the game, whenever that time is… keep playing the way you supposed to play,” he added.
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