Less than five years after knocking down the final bucket in the Raptors’ title-clinching Game 6 win, Pascal Siakam – the last remaining piece of that 2019 championship core – is finally outbound.
With the NBA trade deadline less than two weeks away, the all-star forward was sent to Indiana as part of a three-team deal on Wednesday, with veteran swingman Bruce Brown, forward Jordan Nwora, Pelicans guard Kira Lewis Jr. and three first-round picks headed back to Toronto in exchange.
It felt inevitable after a year’s worth of speculation intensified in recent days. It was necessary if the Raptors weren’t willing to give Siakam the max contract he was seeking – they couldn’t risk losing him for nothing. But it’s far from a satisfying conclusion to his iconic eight-year tenure.
At first glance, the return is a passable one under the circumstances. A proven rotation player and three first-round picks is more than several league insiders expected them to net for a pending free agent who, in the end, had more leverage in determining how this played out than they did.
Take a closer look, though. Brown was a key reserve for the NBA champion Nuggets last season and has turned into a valuable role player but, at 27, he doesn’t exactly project as a foundational piece. Nwora and Lewis were included in the deal to make the money work. They couldn’t crack the rotation with their previous teams and aren’t likely to in Toronto either.
As for the draft capital, not all picks are created equal. Two of the three should come in the back half of the first round in a weak 2024 draft, one belonging to Indiana (currently in the 17-19 range) and the other, likely via Oklahoma City, is currently slotted 27th overall. The third, the Pacers’ 2026 selection, is top-4 protected and will only be interesting if things don’t go as planned in Indiana.
Hardly fair value for a two-time all-star in the prime of his career, but that’s what happens when you wait too long to act. Your leverage shrinks and you’re forced to accept a harsh reality: the best trade available may not be the one you wanted to make.
This is the type of package – multiple picks and salary filler – that had been out there for Siakam or OG Anunoby dating back to last year’s deadline, offers the Raptors repeatedly turned down prioritizing young players with star upside on Scottie Barnes’ timeline over draft compensation. If there was any doubt about their intended direction, they answered it with last month’s Anunoby trade. The return: two experienced but growing players in their early 20s and only one second-round pick.
That the Raptors settled for three middling picks, without getting back any of Indiana’s prized prospects – rookie Jerace Walker or Canadian sophomores Bennedict Mathurin or Andrew Nembhard – and that they did it two weeks before the deadline feels like a concession. Like it or not, this was probably the best offer they were going to get.
In the end, it appears as though Siakam was on board with a future in Indiana, which was a prerequisite to get the deal over the line. Unless Siakam and his camp were willing to give those assurances to multiple teams, there wasn’t going to be a bidding war or a richer offer, from Indiana or anybody else.
Additionally, after The Athletic reported the framework of their advanced discussions with Indy on Tuesday, it’s conceivable that president Masai Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster felt some pressure to get a deal done sooner rather than later, lest this become an even bigger distraction.
“Pascal’s one of the ultimate professional athletes there is,” Heat guard Kyle Lowry said ahead of Miami’s game in Toronto on Wednesday, roughly three hours before his former Raptors teammate was traded. “I think he’s going to continue to do his job at a high level no matter what. I don’t have advice for him [about tuning out the trade rumours] but I know he’s going to go out there and play his game and control what he can control.”
To his credit, Siakam did just that right up until his last game in a Raptors uniform, which turned out to be Monday’s loss to Boston. Through all the trade rumours, a role change under new head coach Darko Rajakovic this season, and the uncertainty surrounding his future on an expiring contract, the 29-year-old remained a consummate professional on and off the court.
His part in bringing a championship to Toronto is enough to leave a legacy in this city for a very long time. In addition to his charitable work in the community, which is expected to continue beyond his tenure, his unlikely success story is one of the most remarkable we’ve ever seen, not just in the NBA but across professional sports.
Siakam came to Toronto as a relatively unknown 27th-overall pick out of Cameroon in 2016. He was raw and still figuring himself out as a player, having just picked up organized basketball six years prior. What he lacked in refined skill he made up for with an unrelenting motor. Eight years later, he leaves as a multi-time All-NBA player, a multi-time all-star and a top-five player in franchise history – a function of sheer will and hard work on his part.
“Pascal is just a pure basketball junkie,” Rajakovic said ahead of Wednesday night’s game. “He’s the first one to show up at the gym and the last one to leave. He was always coachable and professional since Day 1… I can only be thankful and grateful for all of his contributions to our team this season, but also I have to acknowledge that he spent [eight] years with this organization. He came here as an almost teenager and left quite a legacy behind him.”
It’s a shame that his Raptors career had to end this way, with the player feeling like he was being disrespected or treated unfairly on his way out, but that’s the nature of the business. Siakam will turn 30 before the end of the season and hasn’t shown that he can be the best player on a contending team, making it tough for the team to justify paying him north of $50 million annually over the next four years.
In Indiana he’ll join forces with emerging superstar Tyrese Haliburton to lead an exciting young Pacers team that’s at the top of the league in offence and should be an Eastern Conference contender for years to come. It was the fresh start he didn’t ask for but the one he probably needed.
For the Raptors, the path forward is less obvious.
What should they have done differently? It’s hard to answer that question without the benefit of hindsight. We don’t know what the offers looked like for Siakam when they opted not to move him over the summer, or at least year’s deadline, but it’s reasonable to assume they would have been at least marginally – if not considerably – better than what they got back less than six months before his free agency. Each time they made a decision not to make a decision, there was an opportunity cost. Maybe they could have squeezed a Mathurin or Nembhard-level prospect from the Pacers or somebody else over the off-season. Or, what if they had offered Siakam a contract extension over the summer, when he may have been more amenable to signing it? Could they have salvaged their relationship, hugged it out and moved forward together?
That’s all conjecture at this point. What matters now is that this is indisputably and undeniably Barnes’ team. One by one relics of the Raptors’ championship glory began to disappear. Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol, Norman Powell, Lowry, Nick Nurse, Fred VanVleet and most recently Anunoby and Siakam – between them, they each left in free agency, were fired or got traded, most of them for no or minimal return. All that remains from that 2019 team is Chris Boucher, who had his two-way contract converted just before the playoff run and didn’t appear in a Finals game. He’s now their longest-tenured player.
On an emotional Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena, the Barnes era got off to an encouraging start, with the shorthanded Raptors shocking Miami in a dominant wire-to-wire 121-97 win. It’s not unusual for a team to experience a post-trade bump; we saw it a few weeks ago when Immanual Quickley and RJ Barrett first arrived from New York.
It’s hard to imagine it sustaining, though. This wasn’t a good team with Siakam – they hit the halfway mark of the season on Wednesday with an underwhelming 16-25 record – and there’s little reason to believe they’ll be any better without him. They could be worse, much worse.
The silver lining is it should give them a better chance at keeping their own first-round pick in this upcoming draft, which they owe to San Antonio via last year’s highly questionable Jakob Poeltl trade. The pick is top-six protected and they currently own the seventh-worst record in the NBA. Giving up the seventh-overall pick would surely sting, but it’s not like waving the white flag halfway through the season and perhaps keeping the pick would feel a whole lot better. Firstly, they would still owe the Spurs a pick; if it’s not in the 2024 draft it defers to the following draft with the same protections, and so on.
But mostly, this is not a draft that the Raptors – or anybody around the league – were especially excited about, which is why they traded the pick to begin with. All of a sudden, they’re highly invested in it with up to three picks in the first round as well as Detroit’s second rounder, which should be the 31st overall selection.
It’s an unenviable situation but it’s one of their own making. Getting out of it will require the strong drafting and player development that helped turn Siakam into a star, that they used to be renowned for as an organization and that has fallen off recently.
Ujiri and the Raptors wanted to retool, not rebuild. But more and more, this is looking like the rebuild that they were hoping to avoid.
VANCOUVER – As the Major League Soccer season ticks down, Vanni Sartini wants his Vancouver Whitecaps to make a declaration — the team is ready to compete.
“The time of hiding ourselves, I think it’s over,” the coach said after the ‘Caps earned a 2-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.
“We need to really say that we are here to try to be at the ball until the end and trying to shoot for the highest position. That doesn’t mean that we’re going to make it, but we have the quality to do it.”
With seven games left on their regular-season schedule, the ‘Caps (13-8-6) sit in fifth spot in the congested Western Conference, just two points out of fourth.
Saturday’s loss officially eliminated the last-place Earthquakes (5-21-2) from post-season action.
Vancouver has been on a hot streak since returning from the Leagues Cup break and is unbeaten (3-0-1) in its last four outings across all competitions. The team has not allowed a goal in those matches.
“It’s the fact that we play really well,” Sartini said of the clean sheets. “We have the ball a lot, we finish our attack most of the time in their box. So it’s really hard for the other team to attack us. And then when they attack us, in the rare times that they arrive in the final third, we’re very solid.”
Recent additions have bolstered the team’s ranks, including the club’s newest designated player, Stuart Armstrong. The 32-year-old Scottish midfielder scored his first MLS goal Saturday.
Three minutes after coming on as a substitute for Alessandro Schopf, Armstrong gave Vancouver a two-goal cushion in the 87th minute.
Midfielder Pedro Vite dished a short pass to ‘Caps captain Ryan Gauld, who tapped it toward Armstrong. The former Southampton FC player then blasted a shot into the top of the net for his first strike in a Whitecaps’ jersey.
He was mobbed by teammates in the corner of the field.
“I think everyone was happy. Also for the first goal, but also that it was an important three points,” said Armstrong, who signed with the ‘Caps on Sept. 3.
“It kind of felt a little bit like last week, when we had a lot of chances and we didn’t get the three points. So today, I think everyone was just relieved to have that two-goal cushion.”
Vancouver was the dominant team from the outset Saturday and did not relent, outshooting the visitors 19-5 and controlling 54.1 per cent of possession.
Fafa Picault also found the back of the net for Vancouver, while Gauld contributed a pair of assists.
Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka stopped both shots he faced to collect his seventh clean sheet of the year, while Daniel made nine saves for the Quakes.
Gauld and Picault teamed up in the 22nd minute when Gauld curled a cross in and the Haitian striker headed it down toward the net, only to see Daniel catch a piece of the shot with his forearm and redirect it out of harm’s way.
The duo connected again in the 35th minute on a Vancouver corner. Gauld swung a ball in and Picault jumped up from the pack to send a glancing header in past Daniel for his ninth MLS goal of the season.
San Jose briefly appeared to level the score in the 68th minute when an unmarked Ousseni Bouda collected the ball, froze Takaoka and tapped a shot into the Vancouver net. An official quickly raised the offside flag and waved off the tally.
Daniel kept San Jose’s deficit to a single goal with a pair of solid stops in the 82nd minute.
First, the Brazilian ‘keeper dove sideways on his line to tip away a bomb from Alessandro Schopf. He was tested again on the ensuing corner and jumped up to send a header from Picault over the crossbar.
“I think we created a lot of chances again,” Gauld said.
“We probably should have put the game out of their reach sooner. But we’d be more worried if we weren’t creating the chances. Three clean sheets in a row in the league, I think it’s a big thing for us. And it gives us a good platform to go forward.”
NOTES
Vancouver played without leading scorer Brian White for a third consecutive game as the American striker works his way back from a concussion. … Gauld’s second assist marked his 15th goal contribution (six goals, nine assists) in his last 15 Whitecaps games across all competitions. … An announced crowd of 21,309 took in the game at B.C. Place.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps kick off a two-game road swing Wednesday against the Houston Dynamo. The Earthquakes host the Seattle Sounders the same night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Not good enough. That was Arne Slot’s verdict after his first defeat as Liverpool manager on Saturday.
A shock 1-0 loss at home to Nottingham Forest in the English Premier League ended Slot’s perfect record since succeeding Jurgen Klopp at Anfield at the end of last season.
“We had a lot of ball possession but only managed to create three (or) four quite good chances, so that is by far not enough if you have so much ball possession,” said the Dutchman, who suggested his team should not be losing to the likes of Forest.
“If you lose a home game it’s always a setback, especially if you face a team … we never know, maybe they will go all the way to fight for Champions League tickets, but normally this team is not ending up in the top 10, so if you lose a game against them that’s a big disappointment.”
Slot won his first three games in charge, including a memorable 3-0 victory against Manchester United before the international break.
But that run came to an end after Callum Hudson-Odoi struck in the 72nd with a curling effort from the edge of the box and beyond goalkeeper Alisson.
Liverpool’s defeat leaves Manchester City as the only team with a 100% record in the league after a 2-1 win against Brentford kept the defending champion at the top of the table.
United won at Southampton 3-0 to end its two-game losing streak.
Unstoppable Haaland
Erling Haaland moved to 99 goals for City after scoring twice against Brentford.
The Norwegian’s double came after Yoane Wissa fired Brentford ahead with just 22 seconds on the clock.
Haaland scored his 98th and 99th goals in his 103rd City appearance in all competitions. And he was the width of the post away from his third consecutive hat trick after trebles against Ipswich and West Ham.
“He’s been really, really good. Yeah, I would say he’s the best (he’s been), but it’s only four fixtures (this season),” City manager Pep Guardiola said.
Haaland, who has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or, has nine goals in four league games. He has topped the league scoring charts in each of his two seasons at City since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2022 for $63 million.
Haaland’s first goal after 19 minutes evened the game following Wissa’s opener, which stunned the Etihad Stadium crowd. Haaland turned and swept a shot past goalkeeper Mark Flekken after a slight deflection off Ethan Pinnock.
He was then too strong for Pinnock when shaking off the defender and running through for his second in the 32nd.
He was inches away in the 81st; the shot came back off the post after beating the keeper.
Rashford snaps run
Marcus Rashford snapped a 12-game barren run in front of goal as United beat Southampton.
Rashford doubled United’s lead at Saint Mary’s after Matthijs de Ligt’s scored his first for the club. Substitute Alejandro Garnacho scored a third in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
The win came after back-to-back defeats for United.
Rashford hadn’t scored since March in United’s win over Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals. He curled in a shot from the edge of the area to put Erik ten Hag’s team 2-0 up at Southampton in the 41st minute.
Ten Hag said it could be a turning point for the forward.
“For every striker, they want to be on the scoring list. Once the first is in, more is coming. Like a ketchup bottle, once it’s going, it’s coming more,” he said.
De Ligt, who joined United from Bayern Munich in the offseason, headed in from Bruno Fernandes’ cross in the 35th.
It could have been a different story if Cameron Archer converted a penalty for Southampton in the 33rd. Instead, his effort was saved by goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Newly promoted Southampton was reduced to 10 men when Jack Stephens was sent off in the 79th for a high challenge on Garnacho.
Villa comeback
After three straight defeats to start the league, Everton looked set for its first win when leading Aston Villa 2-0.
Goals from Dwight McNeil and Dominic Calvert-Lewin put Sean Dyche’s team in control until Ollie Watkins struck twice to even the game.
Jhon Duran completed Villa’s comeback and sealed a 3-2 win in the 76th to leave Everton rooted to the bottom of the table and the only top flight team without a point.
Late drama
Jean-Philippe Mateta converted a stoppage time penalty to salvage a 2-2 draw for Crystal Palace against Leicester.
Leicester led 2-0 at Selhurst Park after goals from Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi.
But Mateta sparked Palace’s response with a goal in the 47th, a minute after Mavididi doubled Leicester’s advantage.
Conor Coady fouled Ismaili Sarr in the box right near fulltime and Mateta was cool enough to convert.
West Ham left it even later to salvage a point in a 1-1 draw at Fulham.
Danny Ings struck in the fifth minute of added time after Raul Jimenez’s goal looked like earning Fulham the win.
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler, the manager of the month for August, was frustrated as his team was held to 0-0 at home by Ipswich.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
