The Toronto Raptors have found a bit of a roadblock with Pascal Siakam.
The OG Anunoby trade was just the first domino to fall in an imminent Raptors rebuild, with Siakam being projected to go next.
Nonetheless, teams have found little incentive to trade for the forward/center.
According to a report by Locked on NBA podcast (via Legion Hoops), Siakam has made it known that he doesn’t intend to re-sign with any team that trades for him and intends to test free agency instead.
Pascal Siakam has reportedly told teams he will not commit to re-signing with any team that is not the Raptors and wants to test out free agency.
(via @LockedOnNBAPods) pic.twitter.com/xnJIvANtMm
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) January 16, 2024
Truth be told, there isn’t much of an incentive to go all-in on a player who could just walk away a couple of months later, so his trade value has taken a massive dip.
Masai Ujiri isn’t the kind of guy who likes to ‘lose’ trades, and he’d most likely rather let Siakam walk away for free instead of sending him somewhere else at a discount; he’s just a hard negotiator.
The Raptors most likely won’t make the playoffs this season and they could definitely use as many assets as they could get for Siakam.
Siakam’s skill set could be quite sought-after in free agency, as he can play hard on both ends of the floor, spread the floor, create players for others, and whatnot.
Then again, under this CBA, and given his age, it’s highly unlikely that he’s going to get top dollar in free agency, and his best bet would be to re-sign with whoever trades for him.
For now, we’ll just have to wait and see how this unfolds.
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