O.G. Anunoby and Pascal Siakam started the season as teammates and now they will be opponents in the second-round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
The Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks will square off in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, which will pin the former Raptors against each other with a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals on the line.
Anunoby and Siakam have proven to be valuable players for their respective teams.
Anunoby has been tremendous defensively and he’s also provided the Knicks with timely offense. He played all but 2:45 in the Knicks closeout game against the Philadelphia 76ers, scoring 12 of his 19 points in the second-half. The Knicks have won over 82 percent of the games Anunoby has played in, via StateMuse.
As for Siakam he was huge in the Pacers first-round win over the Milwaukee Bucks. He put up 36 points in Game 1 and then 37 points in Game 2. In the closeout game against Milwaukee, Siakam had 15 of his 19 points in the second-half.
Unfortunately for the Raptors they were never able to take that next step with Siakam and Anunoby still on the roster. Following their championship year in 2019 the Raptors failed to put the right pieces together. After many years of mediocrity, Toronto was left with no other choice than to rebuild.
The Raptors return for Anunoby was solid as Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett make up the new young core for Toronto. However, the return for Siakam was underwhelming since the Raptors waited too long to trade him and lost leverage.
While fans still have mixed reactions to the Raptors trading both Anunoby and Siakam this season, it is great seeing both players have success with their new team. It will be interesting to watch them battle it out under the bright playoff lights.
Bleacher Report lists 3 potential free agent targets for Toronto
The Toronto Raptors are going to have a busy offseason ahead. They have the 2024 NBA Draft and then they will navigate free agency starting on June 30.
The Raptors could have some significant cap space to work with this offseason. If they let Gary Trent Jr. and Bruce Brown go that should open up around $47 million in cap space.
Bleacher Report recently listed three potential free agent targets for the Raptors this summer and put them into three categorizes: reasonable, optimistic and dream.
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