New Look Pacers: All-Star Forward Pascal Siakam Traded to the Indiana Pacers
Sports and Entertainment Editor Will Lyons takes an inside look at the Indiana Pacers acquisition of All-Star Forward Pascal Siakam.
The Toronto Raptors have taken the next step in entering a full rebuild by trading All-Star Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers. After the OG Anonoby trade to NYK this was the next step to fully embracing the youth movement around emerging star Scottie Barnes and the newly acquired duo of swingman RJ Barret and sharpshooting point guard Immanuel Quickley.
The 2019 championship team is a distant memory at this point with Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry, Fred Van Vleet and Pascal Siakam all on different rosters. The front office made a tough but smart call to fully lean in to the youth movement and get some of the big contracts off the roster. The three team trade that led to the Pacers acquiring the versatile forward is a move for the future.
Trade details:
Indiana acquires: Pascal Siakam
Toronto acquires: Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, Kira Lewis and three first-round picks
New Orleans acquires: Cap space (trading Lewis lands them under the salary cap)
The Raptors get a versatile role player in Bruce Brown that excels as a Swiss army knife. He can provide some defense, scoring and playmaking which will make him a prime target to be re-routed to a contending team looking for that final piece to push them into a deep playoff run. The big get for Toronto is cap space and draft picks.
Indiana is the winner here acquiring one of the more underrated talents in the league. Siakam pairs extremely well with Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton. A dynamic and fun duo that should result in a lot of wins for Indiana. But the biggest detail about this trade is the Pacers acquired an All-Star without completely mortgaging their future. They were able to keep recent draft picks Ben Mathurin, Andrew Nembhard and Jarace Walker who have showed promise in their short careers. They also kept talented Center Myles Turner, and rotational bigs Obi Toppin, Jalen Smith and Isaiah Jackson.
Conclusion: The Pacers seriously upgraded their team without compromising their youth, athleticism and they are in position to make additional moves if they choose to. Even without making any other moves the only thing left for the Pacers is to resign Siakam in the off-season. Securing your two stars long term will have the Pacers setup for success surrounding the MVP type of campaign Haliburton has been having. On paper and style wise the fit is there so we can expect the Pacers to make a push for the top half of the conference standings (currently 7th with a 23–17 record).
