Everyone is so happy for him. That’s perhaps the most telling element about Pascal Siakam’s improbable rise from NBA nobody to All-Star game starter in the space of three short years.
They know the person, they know the story and they know what it means.
No one becomes an all-star on their own, but Siakam’s unlikely path has picked up a village worth of supporters, all of whom see something of themselves in the likeable 25-year-old’s success.
And so when Siakam was – as had been expected – announced as an All-Star game starter Thursday night, it served as a shared moment that elevates those around him because they know where the journey started. He finished third in Eastern Conference fan voting and, after media and player votes were factored in, the kid from Cameroon got the nod.
It’s almost hard to believe, but it’s true — and who doesn’t like those kinds of stories?
It’s why, when the Raptors headed onto their team charter for the trip to New York City before their game here Friday against the New York Knicks, Kyle Lowry was proudly repping a sweatshirt with Siakam’s logo on it.
It’s why Siakam’s older brother, Christian, squeezed himself onto a flight to New York Thursday morning to make sure he would be with his younger brother for the moment.
“He can’t be by himself [for] this,” he said.
It’s why Raptors veteran Serge Ibaka who – hailing from the Congo – understands Siakam’s journey from a French-speaking African country to the rare air of the NBA was moved at the prospect of his locker room neighbour getting league-wide recognition.
“To me, personally, it’s beautiful, because coming from Africa, as an [All-Star] starter,” Ibaka said. “It’s going to be big, not just for him, but for others, young players who look up to him in Africa. It’s going to inspire a lot of people. I always tell him, as an African player, whatever we do, it’s not only for us.”
It’s why Fred VanVleet, who broke in with Siakam as a rookie in 2016-17 and regularly shared a DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) designation in the box score that season, feels like Siakam’s triumphs are in part his success — and every other teammate who made the drives out to Mississauga to play for Raptors 905.
“We’re all taking a piece of it,” said VanVleet. “We all went through everything together, for the most part, through those trenches, those dark times, sitting at the end of the bench, we all went through it together, so to see his rise now, it’s pretty cool. We all knew that he belonged as a player, but for him to move up into that range [as a starter] after not being there [before], that’s the part I look at, that’s real cool.”
They simply don’t make All-Star stories like this very often.
Siakam picked up the sport as an afterthought in his late teens. He was lightly recruited out of high school after moving to Texas, spent three years at small-conference New Mexico State, was a late first-round pick (27th overall) by the Raptors as an “energy guy” and averaged 4.2 points a game as a rookie. Even two seasons ago, he averaged just 7.3 points coming off the bench and was projected to be a rotation player in training camp heading into season three.
But alongside Kawhi Leonard — and often carrying the team in Leonard’s absence — Siakam broke out.
And now? He’s arguably the best player on one of the NBA’s best teams, and he’s headed to Chicago to play on one of the sport’s brightest stages — thanks in part to per-game averages of 23.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists, all career highs.
Perhaps the only person who saw this coming was the man himself.
“I think for me, from the first day I got to the NBA, I’ve always wanted to achieve more,” he said, moments after learning he would be an All-Star game starter. “I felt like the league was wide open for me to come in and be one of the better players and we worked really, really hard. It wasn’t easy and it’s not easy — I was like, one for [whatever] last night? This is always a journey.
“And I think what makes it just fun is having that support and having the people around me believing in me and, and from the first day I got in the gym, I always say that my man Rico [Hines, Siakam’s Los Angeles-based trainer], even my agent, from the first day, they saw that in me and I saw that in myself and that’s why we connected that well. And I’m so glad that it’s happening.”
There is only one tinge of sadness. For all of Siakam’s biggest moments the person who he would want to share them with the most, but isn’t able to, is his father, Tchamo. It was his father who dreamed the big dreams first and encouraged his sons to use basketball as a way to further themselves and imagined that one of his four boys would play in the NBA. He died in a car accident on Oct. 23, 2014 before he could see his youngest son realize his vision.
“It’s unbelievable man. I think you’ve just gotta think back to the journey,” said Siakam. “I think back on my dad, you know, just kind of taking the chance and being like, ‘Man, I’ve watched these guys on TV, they play with this orange ball, and it’s super fun, people are excited to watch them play, and it’s so exciting.
“And him wanting and hoping and dreaming that one of his sons could do that. And working so hard to send his sons to the US, get an education, play college ball and hoping to get to the NBA, and there I am. To be able to be at this stage and winning a championship and being an All-Star, and not only an All-Star but starting in the All-Star Game.
“I wish that that he was here. I kind of hate, like, every time there’s a big moment, it feels like there’s something missing. But I know, I know he’s here, I know he’s watching me. I can feel his presence. But I think it would be kind of nice to be able to look him in the face and just tell him, like, ‘You did it.’ And we did it.’ And whatever you put your mind into and whatever you’ve worked so hard for is here and we do it at the highest level.”
But this fast? It’s wild when you look back on it.
By the time the All-Star break rolled around in Siakam’s 2016-17 rookie season, the rangy forward was officially an afterthought in the Raptors’ rotation, sitting behind DeMarre Carroll, watching minutes go to Lucas Nogueira.
After the trade deadline and the Raptors’ acquisitions of P.J. Tucker and Ibaka, Siakam barely played again outside of some garbage time in a handful of games.
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It’s been a steady march to this moment ever since.
Even with how far he’s come, Siakam’s never let his past and the path he took to get here drift too far from his thoughts.
Before every game, he still recognizes his late father by writing “10/23” on one sneaker and “RIP Dad” on the other.
He’ll no doubt be doing it in a few weeks’ time in Chicago, writing another chapter in an unbelievable story that few would have predicted, but everyone is happy to have come to pass.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
