The Pascal Siakam trade saga just took a tricky turn.
Siakam and the Raptors are said to be on the verge of parting ways. However, his current contract situation is making thing difficult.
Siakam is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Therefore he will have the freedom to sign with any team.
If a team trades top value for Siakam now, he could wind up being just a rental for them.
What’s holding things up even more is that Siakam has told teams that he will not give a commitment to re-sign with any team that is not the Raptors, The Action Network’s Matt Moore said on the Locked On NBA podcast:
“He will not give a verbal commitment whatsoever…with the Pacers, the Hawks, the Kings, the Warriors or any other team that trades for him. He wants to test out free agency.”
If this is in fact true, this would create a nightmare scenario for the Raptors. Since teams won’t be willing to pay a high price for him.
Meanwhile, the Raptors can’t let this play out because they could lose Siakam for nothing just like they lost Fred VanVleet for nothing last offseason.
The Raptors mishandled the VanVleet situation and if they mishandle the Siakam situation in the following season that is a true disaster for the front office.
Unless a team is willing to take a risk and feels like they are a Siakam away from winning the title this season, it will make a trade tough for Toronto.
Based on everything that has been coming out it seems clear that the Raptors want to trade Siakam, but the offers haven’t been to their liking.
With the trade deadline fast approaching on Feb. 8, it’ll be interesting to see if anything changes with the current situation.
Pacers are among league’s most aggressive teams in trade talks for Siakam
While teams might hold back their best offer for Siakam given his free agency status, the Indiana Pacers reportedly remain one of the league’s most aggressive teams when it comes to trying to acquire the two-time All-Star.
However Indiana is reluctant to part ways with their two young talents in Bennedict Mathurin and rookie Jarace Walker, per Marc Stein.
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