Siakam Says His Goodbye To The Toronto Raptors
For the first time in his NBA career, Pascal Siakam will play for a team other than the Toronto Raptors. The team traded the 29-year-old to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, Kira Lewis and three first-round draft picks.
The Raptors selected Siakam 27th overall in the 2016 NBA Draft. He played eight seasons with the club and helped bring the organization their first NBA Championship in 2019.
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Siakam's Time With The Raptors
During his time in Toronto, Siakam made two all-star appearances and was named All-NBA twice. He won the Most Improved Player Award during the 2018-19 season. That year he averaged 16.9 points per game, along with 3.1 assists and 6.9 rebounds.
Siakam led the league in minutes played the previous two seasons and recorded a career-high 22.4 points per game last year. He finishes his time with the Raptors fifth in total games played and minutes played. Siakam is also fifth in points with 8,875, behind Vince Carter, Chris Bosh, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.
Siakam's Goodbye To Toronto
Raptors fans have gotten used to moving on from key players for the franchise (think DeRozan and Lowry), but it's always tough to see a star player go out the door. There was a slew of goodbye messages from fans on social media since the trade was announced, but it was Siakam's turn to say farewell on Friday via The Players' Tribune.
"I'll always be a part of this community," Siakam said. "This isn't a 'thanks for the memories,' then I go someplace else. Basketball can take me all over the world. But like I said: This is home."
Pascal now heads to a Pacers team that is seventh in the Eastern Conference with a 24-17 record. The Pacers and Raptors face off on February 14th at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
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