As if the last few weeks of Toronto Raptors basketball, which has featured COVID-19 outbreaks and a nine-game losing streak, couldn’t get any worse, star power forward Pascal Siakam has found himself in head coach Nick Nurse’s doghouse for the second time this season.
Siakam, who was disciplined earlier in the year for a similar infraction, reportedly screamed at Nurse after he did not see the floor in the fourth quarter during a loss against another cellar-dweller in the Cleveland Cavaliers.
While the story of Siakam getting fined $50,000 for his outburst was confirmed to be “not correct”, the latest reports seem to hint at the fact that Siakam crossed a line with Nurse in a truly vitriolic rant.
Per Michael Grange of SportsNet, Siakam voiced his frustration with the benching by verbally attacking Nurse “loudly and aggressively with words beyond standard cursing.” Grange’s sources claim that Siakam got personal, forcing teammates to intervene and break it up.
It was intense and lines were crossed. Pascal Siakam’s blow up with Nick Nurse was beyond the norm for player-coach confrontations, adding another layer of drama onto a challenging Raptors season that’s not over yet: https://t.co/OxbxOB1CcW
— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) March 24, 2021
Toronto Raptors star Pascal Siakam reportedly lost his temper
The Raptors are “not a happy place”, per Grange’s sources, and it’s easy to see why. Siakam, who is averaging 19.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game this season, has been mired with inconsistency and disappointment, both from Siakam himself and the team as a whole.
The Raptors are currently 17-26, and Siakam has missed all four potential game-tying or winning shots late in the fourth quarter this season. Considering how much success this team has been privy to over the last few years, this season is a tough pill to swallow.
Siakam, who has a long, positive history with Nurse, is tied to the Raptors for the foreseeable future, so shipping him out of town is not feasible barring something that is genuinely earth-shaking. Nurse himself has been fined $50,000 this season, so it isn’t like he is beyond reproach either.
Nurse was pivotal in Siakam’s development, as he helped turn him from a high-energy big into one of the game’s best at his position, which speaks to the type of relationship that these two have.
While Siakam shouting at Nurse is completely normal in the heat of battle, going as far as it was reported he went in Grange’s piece is genuinely shocking. With the record in the toilet and stars like Kyle Lowry and Norman Powell potentially on the move, Siakam melting down is another issue in what has become a very difficult season for players and fans alike.