Toronto Raptors fans just watched one of their team's former players head to the NBA Finals in Pascal Siakam. As time goes on, we're seeing that Toronto's deal with Indiana from January 2024 that sent Siakam to the Indiana Pacers was a bit more lopsided than it perhaps looked at the time.
At the time, this looked like a very practical move. The Raptors were moving toward a typical rebuild and needed to get some assets back for some of their best players, especially before Siakam was set to reach the free agency period.
But in hindsight, now that Siakam has helped lead the Pacers all the way to the Finals, it's much more clear that Toronto dealt away an extremely valuable player for perhaps less than a great return.
If you recall, the trade that sent Siakam to the Pacers was centered around Bruce Brown. Indiana had initially signed Brown so that they could later move him in a trade. The Pacers also included three first-round picks in that deal.
That's just the thing about picks: they have great value in theory, but not always in practice. As of right now, the Raptors' return from those selections is not exactly looking very promising.
The Raptors should have gotten more for Siakam
As for Pascal Siakam, he continues to prove that he was always much more than just Kawhi Leonard's lowly sidekick during that 2019 run to a championship. With three 30-point performances in the Eastern Conference Finals matchup with the New York Knicks, Siakam showed us once again that he's the type of guy who can be your best player at times during a deep playoff run.
There's truly not a lot of guys in the NBA that can say that about themselves with ample evidence to back it up. The fact that Toronto essentially sold low on Siakam, and now they're seeing him produce these kinds of results in Indiana is certainly more than a little disappointing.
And really, if we look back on it, Siakam's addition to this Pacers squad was sort of the moment they transformed from a regular middle of the pack Eastern Conference contender into this playoff juggernaut that we see today. Five playoff series victories in the last two seasons is absolutely unprecedented for Indiana.
We understand if some Raptors fans wanted to simply take a break from watching this year's NBA Finals. It's not easy to watch your former franchise star reach these heights with another team, especially when Toronto has so little to show from that trade.