"End of an era": Heartbroken Raptors fans react to Siakam trade news
With the NBA trade deadline a few weeks away, the Toronto Raptors made headlines on Wednesday when they traded power forward Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers.
Siakam, 29, was shipped off as part of a three-team deal including the New Orleans Pelicans that will bring three first-round picks and Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora and Kira Lewis to the Raptors.
While many saw it coming, the realization that Siakam, the last remaining starter from Toronto’s 2019 championship-winning team, is gone seems to be hitting fans pretty hard.
Drafted by Toronto in 2016, the Cameroon native spent his entire professional basketball career in Toronto’s organization, suiting up for hundreds of games in that span. As a result, those who follow the team see his departure as the end of an era.
In the short time since the news broke, plenty of memes have surfaced.
Siakam fans watching the trade deadline pic.twitter.com/266oIv0Gid
— 𝒮𝒸𝑜𝑜𝓉𝑒𝓇 #DarkoHive (@young_simba7) January 16, 2024
Pascal Siakam living in the Toronto cold realizing Indiana gets cold too: pic.twitter.com/ZPo73yow01
— HotShot Fantasy Sports (@hotshotfantasy) January 17, 2024
Gonna be telling my grandkids about the 2019 Toronto raptors 🕊️ pic.twitter.com/MHUpWzcS1j
— Noor (@noorrzainab) January 17, 2024
Raptors fans seeing they got 3 first-rounders for Siakam:pic.twitter.com/imbWJkhJLO
— theScore (@theScore) January 17, 2024
One X user even pointed to a local McFlurry flavour named after the player being discontinued.
The Siakam Swirl was fun while it lasted… pic.twitter.com/M9TWd0extD
— Joe Osborne (@JTFOz) January 17, 2024
Pascal Siakam living in the Toronto cold realizing Indiana gets cold too: pic.twitter.com/ZPo73yow01
— HotShot Fantasy Sports (@hotshotfantasy) January 17, 2024
On a more serious note, though, plenty of Raptors fans have taken the opportunity to thank the two-time All-Star for his productive Toronto tenure.
“Always handled himself with class,” one X user wrote. “Thanks for the memories Spicy P!”
Was a pleasure watching Pascal Siakam grow from raw late first rounder into an NBA All-Star and a huge part of a championship team. Always handled himself with class. Thanks for the memories Spicy P 🌶️!!!!!
— Jesse Rubinoff (@jesserubinoff) January 17, 2024
‘Tremendous player. Tremendous Raptor. He’s gonna continue doing incredible things in his NBA career,” another added.
Bye Pascal Siakam.
Tremendous player. Tremendous Raptor.
He’s gonna continue doing incredible things in his NBA career.The Pacers are gonna be a problem. pic.twitter.com/FqGdWzLSyG
— Amit Mann (@Amit_Mann) January 17, 2024
Even Canadian actor Simu Liu chimed in on the trade as he shared a photo of Siakam alongside other members of the 2019 rosters, writing, “Today marks the end of an era, but the northern uprising is forever.”
i will never forget our championship run in 2019. to me, this squad represents the heart of the @raptors, who brought a championship to the city of toronto against all odds.
today marks the end of an era, but the northern uprising is forever. pic.twitter.com/RpfCl4mA3p
— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) January 17, 2024
Another user pointed to Siakam’s impressive list of accolades as an argument for him to be considered one of the greatest players ever to wear the Raptors jersey.
Pascal Siakam will go down as a top 5 Raptor of all time. 2x all nba 2x all star and 1x nba champion. Thank you for everything P and good luck in Indiana🌶️ pic.twitter.com/pL30SppvoH
— QuickleySZN (@OuterspaceJ) January 17, 2024
Siakam leaves Toronto averaging 22.2 points a game. His 510 games played are the fifth most out of any player in franchise history.
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