Toronto Raptors: Top 5 best individual seasons of all-time
By Jason Mills
Toronto Raptors best individual season No. 3: Pascal Siakam 2019-20
Siakam was drafted in 2016, 27th overall, as the Raptors’ second first-round pick that year. While Jakob Poeltl has proven to be a useful role player now with the San Antonio Spurs, Siakam was the diamond in the rough.
Siakam originally made his mark on the Raptors with hustle on both ends of the floor and effort. As his offensive skills caught up to the rest of his game, the Cameroonian emerged as one of the best players in Raptors history.
It didn’t hurt he has the ability to play without a coach designing isolation plays for him and has good enough ball-handling skills, speed, and moves to take the rock coast-to-coast and finish.
Siakam took his game from averaging 12.6 points a game in 2018 to 19.1 in 2019, becoming the League’s Most Improved Player.
However, his weird 2019/20 season is a splendid effort, although it was uneven. The 19 games he played in the Florida bubble, including playoffs, came up significantly short of what he could accomplish. However, without Kawhi and being featured as the Raptors’ top scoring option Siakam averaged 22.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, and shot 35.9 percent from deep.
It was an impressive feat considering the Raptors lost two starters in the 2019 off-season, the 2019-20 season was interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and all the injuries the team suffered, Siakam was a key factor in the Raptors’ 53-19 regular-season record.