74 reasons why Kawhi Leonard is staying with the Toronto Raptors

5. Pascal “Spicy P” Siakam

Kawhi Leonard’s championship run will go down as one of the most impressive as he became one of a few superstars to lead his team to a title without a secondary star. Although nobody saw Pascal Siakam elevate himself to being the Raptors’ second-best player on most occasions.

Siakam is the NBA’s returning Most Improved Player award after he transformed himself into a bonafide scorer and key disruptor on defense. “Spicy P”‘s stats increased across the board. His scoring went up to 16.9 from 7.3, his rebounding from 4.5 to 6.9, and he even developed a three-point shooting (hitting a three per game at 36.9-percent versus 0.4 at 22-percent last season).

His advanced metrics were also significantly better: his true shooting percent of 62.8-percent is up from 54.9-percent last season and his win shares per 48 minutes bumped significantly as well. His value over replacement player (VORP) rating nearly doubled at 3.5 from 1.7.

Even though he’s 24, Siakam is just scratching the surface of his potential. Taken late in the first in the 2016 draft, the Cameroonian had just begun playing basketball when he joined New Mexico State.

It’s likely that “Siak” will become even better in the next few seasons. He could be an All-Star next year and an All-NBA player for the next few more.

Kawhi and Siakam will form one of the best forward combos in the NBA and possibly the greatest SF-PF combo since Bird and McHale.