The Toronto Raptors are open to moving Pascal Siakam before the season. These five teams should get involved.
Masai Ujiri and the Toronto Raptors front office have not been the most willing trade negotiators in recent years. Despite a torrential downpour of rumors involving Kyle Lowry, OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, and others, the Raptors have consistently held tight. They were even willing to lose Lowry and VanVleet for nothing in free agency.
Now, Pascal Siakam is the name circulating the rumor mill ahead of training camp. The Raptors are expected to drive a hard bargain, but Siakam feels like a genuinely strong candidate to get traded.
The 29-year-old is currently eligible for an extension, but the Raptors have not re-upped his contract. NBA insider Marc Stein speculates that Toronto wants to place the ball in the hands of Scottie Barnes and OG Anunoby, essentially kicking the can down the road after losing VanVleet to Houston.
The Raptors have kept plenty of expiring players under contract before, but none of them carried Siakam's theoretical trade value on the open market. And, with an increasingly alarming track record of losing key players for nothing, maybe the front office has finally learned its lesson.
Here are five teams who should make a real effort to pry Siakam out of Toronto's hands.
No. 5 Pascal Siakam trade destination: Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets are stuck in no man's land. A team would normally be wise to strip down to the bare bones and rebuild after trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, but the Nets owe the majority of their upcoming draft picks to Houston due to the James Harden trade. There's no point in bottoming out if that juicy pick goes to another team.
So, the Nets are presumably looking to build a competitive team around Mikal Bridges and the recently extended Cam Johnson. With Nic Claxton anchoring the defense and one of the league's better coaches in Jacques Vaughn, it's not hard to imagine the Nets scraping together a postseason berth.
That becomes much easier to envision and accomplish if Brooklyn trades for Pascal Siakam. The Nets do have a stockpile of picks to sell (just not their own) after the Durant trade, plus there are plenty of intriguing young players on the roster: Cam Thomas, Noah Clowney, Dariq Whitehead, Day'Ron Sharpe, and so forth.
The Raptors, in need of a proper point guard, could seek a trade package built around Spencer Dinwiddie, young players, and future picks. Siakam is a top-30 player when healthy and he would immediately elevate Brooklyns' stagnant halfcourt offense with his shifty downhill scoring and vastly underrated playmaking. Maybe the Nets wouldn't win the East, but they'd be a team worth paying attention to.
No. 4 Pascal Siakam trade destination: Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks have been the most heavily involved team in Siakam rumors. For Atlanta, there's obvious pressure to start winning again with Trae Young. After that impressive conference finals run in 2021, the team has struggled to recapture the same magic. Siakam would give Young another bonafide co-star capable of elevating Atlanta on both ends of the floor.
After years of speculation, the Hawks finally traded John Collins this summer. Now there's a void at the four spot, one the Hawks probably wouldn't mind filling with a two-time All-Star and NBA champion. Siakam is a long and rangy defender but, more importantly, he's another offensive cog to help carry the offense when Trae Young sits.
Dejounte Murray's first season with Atlanta yielded mostly mixed results, but the Hawks doubled down with an expensive four-year extension. Now Murray is under contract for the next five seasons. His fit alongside Trae Young in the backcourt is an open-ended question, but he would certainly fit with Siakam as a table-setter and pick-and-roll partner in the non-Young minutes. Meanwhile, Young and Siakam would get along swimmingly. Young serves up clean looks on a silver platter and Siakam is at his best attacking off the catch and roasting rotating defenders with his slippery first step.
The combined length of Siakam, Murray, and Clint Capela on the defensive end could help Atlanta establish a much-needed identity on that side of the ball. Offensively there are valid spacing concerns, but Siakam averaged four 3-point attempts per game last season. He's not the most efficient marksman (32.4 percent), but the volume is there and he only needs the threat of shooting to open up the rest of his game.
No. 3 Pascal Siakam trade destination: San Antonio Spurs
There has been a lot of talk about the Spurs fast-tracking their rebuild after landing No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama. The 7-foot-4 center from France didn't exactly dominate Summer League, but he showed more than enough to reassure San Antonio fans of the dominance on the horizon.
Barring unforeseen health issues, Wembanyama should not only win Rookie of the Year — he should help the Spurs win games. Whether you believe he's the best prospect since LeBron James or not, there's no denying the singular two-way impact a player with his intersection of size, mobility, and skill can exert over a game.
Siakam would pair beautifully with Wemby in the frontcourt. Both can self-create. Both can shoot. Both can pass. Defenses would have headaches trying to contain all the fun wrinkles Gregg Popovich would implement offensively.
He's not exactly the bulky post defender many envision next to Wembanyama, but Siakam can switch all over the floor. Wemby moves well in space and he should have no trouble shutting off the rim despite his strength disadvantage. Even the strongest NBA players with have trouble creating enough space to get shots over the 19-year-old's enormous 8-foot wingspan.
Siakam would give the Spurs' halfcourt offense a necessary boon while also reinforcing last season's league-worst defense. San Antonio has a few tantalizing young pieces to offer up via trade — Jeremy Sochan, Malaki Branham, Blake Wesley — plus a boatload of picks. Siakam would make the Spurs a formidable team.
No. 2 Pascal Siakam trade destination: Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies have mastered the regular season. With one of the deepest rosters in the NBA and a great young coach in Taylor Jenkins, there's not much more Memphis can hope to accomplish over the course of 82 games. Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. were both All-Stars last season; Desmond Bane will join the club sooner than later.
But, despite winning 51 games and securing the No. 2 seed in a cutthroat Western Conference, the Grizzlies were dispatched in the first round. Several factors beyond basketball contributed to that outcome, but here's the simple fact: Memphis hasn't proven it can win on the biggest stage yet.
The roster doesn't really need any tweaks. A healthy Bane, a distraction-free Morant, and the newly acquired veteran leadership of Marcus Smart feels like a strong antidote to last season's ailments — assuming the Grizzlies can actually check all three boxes. Morant will start the season with a 25-game suspension. Smart is great, but he comes at the expense of Tyus Jones and Dillon Brooks, both of whom were important rotation pieces in 2022-23.
Another potential solution for the Grizzlies? More star power. Siakam would immediately take over as the franchise's second-best player behind Morant. His self-creation skills, consistent rim pressure, and underrated passing chops would connect a lot of dots for one of the league's best offenses. He's a great transition threat, making him a perfect running mate for Morant. Plus, he'd fit hand-in-glove next to Jaren Jackson Jr. in a smaller, switch-friendly frontcourt.
Memphis has all its picks to trade, plus plenty of intriguing young players up and down the roster. Morant, Jackson, and Bane are off the table, but the Grizzlies are bursting at the seams with underrated, frankly underutilized first, second, and third-year players for Toronto to siphon away.
No. 1 Pascal Siakam trade destination: Indiana Pacers
Not many teams have had a better offseason than the Indiana Pacers. Tyrese Haliburton signed his max extension. Kevin Pritchard and the front office pried Bruce Brown away from Denver. Jarace Walker fell into the Pacers' lap with the No. 8 pick. It has been win, after win, after win.
What better way to close a successful offseason than with a blockbuster trade? Siakam has been connected to the Pacers, who spent all summer looking to bolster the frontcourt rotation around Myles Turner. Well, Siakam more than bolsters it. He elevates Indiana into the realm of legitimate postseason contenders in the East.
Siakam is a proven winner and the perfect offensive fit for Indiana's current roster. Haliburton is the league's preeminent set-up man; Siakam loves to run the floor and attack off the catch. Turner can stretch the floor at the five spot. Brown is an active cutter and connector of dots who could orbit Siakam as he works from the elbow. Buddy Hield is the best spot-up shooter in the East.
The Pacers are closer to contention than a lot of NBA fans realize. The team was winning games early last season before injuries derailed the campaign. Rick Carlisle is a historic winner who understands how to squeeze wins out of any group. The Pacers wouldn't have many mismatched parts in this case, and there aren't many more appealing trade packages than the one Indiana can build around a player like Jarace Walker or Bennedict Mathurin.
Fit-wise, this feels like Siakam's ideal landing spot. The Pacers probably wouldn't crack the Milwaukee-Boston-Philadelphia tier of contention, but Indiana would very much have the firepower to claim a top-five seed and catch the attention of teams the league over.