Pascal Siakam is the best player who can potentially be moved before the trade deadline.
Siakam and the Raptors are reportedly on the verge of parting ways, but a deal could be tricky because of his current contract situation.
Siakam will have a lot of say on where he goes because he will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
It’s believed that he wants the full four-year max deal at about $184.5 million.
Therefore if teams trade for him now he could simply be a rental for them, which is complicating his value.
The only team that can offer Siakam a four-year extension right now are the Raptors, but according to Adrian Wojnarowski Toronto and Siakam are nowhere close to that.
There is one team that has been linked to the Raptors as of late and that’s the Indiana Pacers. According to NBC Sports Kurt Helin, there are two players in particular that Toronto would target in a potential trade:
“Another team mentioned as a trade partner is Indiana, which would be a fantastic fit on the court next to Tyrese Haliburton. However, Toronto wants Bennedict Mathurin or Jarace Walker in any trade with Indiana. The Pacers are not interested in trading away their young talent for a player they can sign as a free agent this summer (the Pacers have a lot of salary cap flexibility). Plus, if Indiana did trade for him, there would be no guarantee he would stay.”
If the Raptors are going to trade Siakam then they should absolutely want Mathurin or Walker back as these are arguable Indiana’s two brightest young assets.
However, as Helin mentioned the Pacers don’t need to trade either of them for a player they can simply wait and sign in the offseason.
Will a Siakam deal get done?
Siakam’s contract situation is making things difficult in trade negotiations. Teams aren’t going to feel comfortable paying top value for Siakam, when he can end up leaving months later.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Raptors navigate this in the next couple of weeks and if they are able to strike a deal involving Siakam.
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