Despite my wife saying it’s been in a the news for weeks and weeks, it seems the trading of Pascal Siakim is finally here. It could be today or this week is my feeling.
When it actually does happen, that will be the end of the 2019 title team. All the players will be gone. The coach is gone. I guess the only pieces left are the executive team that built it all. Oh and We The North.
It’s hard to believe that in less than 5 years, it will all be gone and to be honest, the team has declined quite a bit since.
Now, things have looked a little better as of late with the trade for IQ and RJ, but still, look at what the team was in 2019. It was a perfect team. I think it gets overlooked at just how complete a team it was.
Even when Kawai left for L.A., the team was still really good. You could say that the pandemic played a part in the demise. The Raptors were setting themselves up to make a serious title defense, with home court and then the bubble happened.
From there, key pieces got older, free agency wasn’t handled well and once again with the pandemic, we had to endure the Tampa season.
Back to Pascal. I have been hoping he would get moved to a team that is ready to compete. He’s been a great story for the Raptors. Low draft pick, did the G league and worked his ass off to be an All Star.
Seriously, nobody would have predicted it.
Now he has reached the point where he is still the best player on the team, but he doesn’t fit with the current timeline. Also, he is a free agent this summer, and they can’t afford to lose him for nothing like they did with FVV.
The word on the street currently is he is going to the Indiana Pacers. A team that goes up and down and scores more points than anyone in the NBA. Seems like the perfect fit.
It will be interesting to see what Toronto gets in return for Pascal. I personally hope they get young players rather than draft picks. Build around Scottie, IQ and RJ.
Siakim will also get a lot more praise once he is playing in a US market. His skills will be on full display to a much larger audience and they will all see what we have been enjoying for several years.
No more Spicy P. No more McDonalds ads. He will be missed.
Now of course I have gone down this road, he won’t get traded and we will have to sweat it out over the summer if he will resign.
As much as I like our front office, if they mess this one up, it may be time to also shake that up too.
How have you felt this season’s Toronto Raptors have been? Are you ready to see Pascal move on, or hoping he stays for many more years?
Let me know in the comments.
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