Raptors: 3 reasons why trading Pascal Siakam makes no sense

1. We need to see him play with Scottie Barnes

The Raptors’ desire to build a positionless lineup that becomes hellacious on defense and efficient on offense was predicated around Barnes and Siakam playing together. Where some might see a redundancy, the Raptors see themselves reinforcing their strengths and creating a lineup unique to the NBA.

The Raptors still haven’t seen Siakam play with Barnes, and abandoning Siakam to give Barnes more run is doing them both a huge disservice. Siakam is not a traditional power forward given how versatile he can be, and neither is Barnes.

The Toronto Raptors must unleash Pascal Siakam next to Scottie Barnes.

Both are plus defenders that can handle the ball, drive to the rim, and pull-up to shoot, although Siakam can do so with a bit more efficiency than Barnes. The Raptors have an intriguing plan given the combination of these two, so why not let them go out and try to take on the league together?

The team has refuted Siakam trades in the past, and while that shouldn’t necessarily be taken as a sign that the Raptors think this core can win a championship this season, they clearly believe that both Barnes and Siakam are key parts of what will get this ship turned around.