Raptors star Pascal Siakam had historically proficient January

The Toronto Raptors haven’t been shy about the fact that they are willing to sacrifice bench minutes in order to lean on their sensational starting lineup. That puts even more pressure on the likes of forward Pascal Siakam. Luckily, it seems like he’s thrived under that pressure given how his stats look.

Siakam has returned to full health following a shoulder injury in the offseason, and he’s embarked on a stretch of basketball that just may be the best we’ve seen in his entire career. His scoring remains elite, but his growth as a rebounder and passer has been wonderful.

As mentioned on the Raptors broadcast in a win against the Atlanta Hawks, Siakam topped 300 points, 125 rebounds, 100 assists, 30 steals, and 10 blocks in January. He became just the fourth player in the last 30 seasons to check all of those boxes in a single month.

The other three were the eternally underrated and underappreciated Grant Hill, Antoine Walker during the days when Cyber Toine was a consistent All-Star threat in Boston, and the great LeBron James, who accomplished the feat twice. When you’re being mentioned with LeBron, you’re doing something right.

https://twitter.com/libaanstar1/status/1488323561051803649

Pascal Siakam has been dominant for the Toronto Raptors.

Siakam finished the month averaging 22.6 points, 8.6 rebounds, 6.4 assists, and 2.0 steals per game. With shooting percentages of 48% from the field and 41.5% from 3-point range, the combination of Siakam in the post and Fred VanVleet making clutch shot after clutch shot has been too much for most defenses to handle.

Siakam and VanVleet became just the third duo since the merger to each record 325 points and 100 assists in a calendar month. The other two were Magic Johnson and Norm Nixon in 1979 and the Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen combination in 1992. It’s hard to be in much better company than that.

Siakam and the Raptors went 10-6 in January, with a winning streak at the beginning of the month helping this team get started off on the right foot. In a crowded Eastern playoff picture, Toronto is going to need all the help they can get when it comes to staving off some of the competition.

While getting some All-Star love would certainly be nice for Siakam, as it would show that his performance is getting the recognition it deserves from the wider NBA community, the focus is clearly on winning games. With Siakam’s stats translating into wins, it shows that he is playing some truly elite basketball at the moment.