Toronto Cut Off Almost All Communication With Siakam In The 2023 Off-Season

[geokilla]

https://www.tsn.ca/nba/sources-raptors-expected-to-move-or-extend-siakam-ahead-of-trade-deadline-1.2058826

If this is true, why would any superstar want to come here? I'd walk too if I'm Siakam. Masai and Bobby created this mess, now they have to clean it up.

[KL78192020]

He gone.

[Basketball_Jones]

Yeah sounds pretty bad if our intent is to resign him. I’m getting pretty convinced now a trade is coming

[Ganjamayne]

Yeah I don't believe this lol

[ATLTimekeeper]

Yeah sounds pretty bad if our intent is to resign him. I’m getting pretty convinced now a trade is coming

One of the worst bluffs he's made

"We can re-sign Pascal if you don't up your offers."

Meanwhile, Open Gym shows Masai on the phone with Quickley "You and Scottie, man. Think about being a leader. Great fit, you and Scottie."

This dude is fooled no one. Siakam is sick of his **** and just saying "yes, boss. I'll play Darko's way, boss" while he puts in his time. =

[LoveMyRaps]

From cutting off all communication with him to publicly declaring him a selfish player - Masai owes Pascal an apology.
Treated him like absolute sh*t, despite everything Siakam has done for this franchise.

[Thaddy]

I'm siding with Siakam now. It's obviously the way DeRozan was treated is trickling down to Fred and now Siakam. This is the money chasing culture that we have here, and it's what Dennis pointed out.

His value has absolutely tanked but if we offer him the max and 5th year I'm sure it would be water under the bridge.

Masai has made it clear that they want to build around Barnes. They repeatedly say that and shared the vision with Scottie.

This is absolutely stupid by Masai and not how you treat your best player. Siakam is not going to have nice things to say after he leaves Toronto.

Before we bring out the pitch forks I hope Ujiri and Webster get the opportunity to respond. I'm sure there is a cause to this effect.

[sofargone]

i think they were sure he was gonna be traded but once siakams camp started telling teams he wont resign everything fell apart

[TorontoRapsFan]

I'm siding with Siakam now. It's obviously the way DeRozan was treated is trickling down to Fred and now Siakam. This is the money chasing culture that we have here, and it's what Dennis pointed out.

His value has absolutely tanked but if we offer him the max and 5th year I'm sure it would be water under the bridge.

Masai has made it clear that they want to build around Barnes. They repeatedly say that and shared the vision with Scottie.

This is absolutely stupid by Masai and not how you treat your best player. Siakam is not going to have nice things to say after he leaves Toronto.

Before we bring out the pitch forks I hope Ujiri and Webster get the opportunity to respond. I'm sure there is a cause to this effect.

I thought you need to qualify for supermax to get 5th year. wrong ?

[bboyskinnylegs]

i think they were sure he was gonna be traded but once siakams camp started telling teams he wont resign everything fell apart

yeah it's pretty obvious that whenever a deal seems close, Pascal's camp is torpedoing all leverage by putting statements out. Take the best deal we can get by the deadline, and move on. We need to focus on the next iteration of what this team is going to be, not dwell on a failed relationship with a star that never took us anywhere as the main guy.

[xAIRNESSx]

Also from the same story...

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they offered an extension,” another source said.

And it's 'almost all' communication.

But after their disappointing 2022-23 season ended with an embarrassing play-in loss to Chicago, Ujiri and Toronto’s front office cut off almost all communication with Siakam last summer, leading the seven-year vet to wonder whether he was being punished, according to a source close to the player. The lack of contact was especially strange, with Siakam entering the final year of his contract. Typically, players of his calibre don’t get that close to free agency without signing an extension. Ujiri’s very public message to Siakam on Media Day: you’ll have to earn it – the natural implication being that he hadn’t already.

[LoveMyRaps]

Siakam's agent is up to no good either. He clearly has his motives and is trying to make life extremely difficult for the FO.
Notice how whenever there seems to be something materializing and a trade seems close to happening, a report will come out suggesting Siakam "wants to be a Raptor only" or "Siakam is gonna test FA no matter what".

The agent's name is Jaafar Choufani and he has a relatively small clientele, including Justin Champagnie and Paul Watson Jr., two other players the Raps seemingly gave up on.
This dude is out for bad blood. He knows the FO has no other choice but to trade Pascal and he's trying to minimize the potential return. He'll make sure Pascal doesn't commit to any team right now which will automatically supress his trade value.

[ItsDanger]

Its a ploy to get 5th year after June 30. Its common practice for extension talks to occur behind the scenes with other teams. Does anyone really believe this didn't occur with OG and Knicks? The other possibility he has one or few teams he wants and is directing Masai to that end.

[Raptorfan2012]

I'm siding with Siakam now. It's obviously the way DeRozan was treated is trickling down to Fred and now Siakam. This is the money chasing culture that we have here, and it's what Dennis pointed out.

His value has absolutely tanked but if we offer him the max and 5th year I'm sure it would be water under the bridge.

Masai has made it clear that they want to build around Barnes. They repeatedly say that and shared the vision with Scottie.

This is absolutely stupid by Masai and not how you treat your best player. Siakam is not going to have nice things to say after he leaves Toronto.

Before we bring out the pitch forks I hope Ujiri and Webster get the opportunity to respond. I'm sure there is a cause to this effect.

Apologize based on a Josh Lewenberg article?

[BBS22]

I liked Josh's article as someone who is fairly skeptical of media motivations and leaks.

I thought "Toronto cut off communication with Siakam" is probably off base. Masai+Bobby surprisingly are good with players, keeping them in the loop with trades and etc. Even with the Demar situation (total miscommunication) he was kept in the loop with plans when it didn't look like we were getting Kawhi. But even that bridge was mended (Masai/Demar hugged like a few weeks ago lol).

And to be fair. I don't think Masai/Bobby was often in contact with players in the way that we think. Masai/Bobby talk to their agents probably far more.

The problem was Pascal+his agent came in with a high number and Masai/Bobby didn't want to sign to that number. If neither side are budging ... what's there to talk about?

Are we really assuming Masai/Bobby are ducking Pascal lol? I'm 100% sure Darko and company were talking with Pascal for summer workouts and stuff. Keep in mind the Raptors were in on multiple trades like Dame and etc, OG's contract even, resolution to Pascal would probably be the last domino to fall.

People compare this to the Demar stuff and I just don't see it. If anything, you can make the case Masai/Bobby don't want to say anything to avoid a Demar situation but spoiler alert - that was only a news story for gossip it's not like any FA refused to sign with Toronto after Demar was traded ever again. In fact, Dame's agent is the same as Demar's and we were in talks to acquire Dame.

Facts:
-Pascal wants to be a Raptor and wants to be paid.
-Pascal is his agency's biggest client. They want as much $$$ as possible.
-Masai/Bobby don't want to give max + term to Pascal.
-If offered the max contract, Pascal would sign asap.

So did Toronto "cut off communication" with Siakam? I doubt it, there just wasn't a lot to talk about since two sides were apart.

[Anticon]

Siakam's agent is up to no good either. He clearly has his motives and is trying to make life extremely difficult for the FO.
Notice how whenever there seems to be something materializing and a trade seems close to happening, a report will come out suggesting Siakam "wants to be a Raptor only" or "Siakam is gonna test FA no matter what".

The agent's name is Jaafar Choufani and he has a relatively small clientele, including Justin Champagnie and Paul Watson Jr., two other players the Raps seemingly gave up on.
This dude is out for bad blood. He knows the FO has no other choice but to trade Pascal and he's trying to minimize the potential return. He'll make sure Pascal doesn't commit to any team right now which will automatically supress his trade value.

Interesting. Such a weird situation it makes sense there is another dynamic at play.

[Tofubeque]

Actual passage from the article:

But after their disappointing 2022-23 season ended with an embarrassing play-in loss to Chicago, Ujiri and Toronto’s front office cut off almost all communication with Siakam last summer, leading the seven-year vet to wonder whether he was being punished, according to a source close to the player.

Almost all communication, according to a source close to the player (his agency).

As always, if you're Siakam's rep your goal is to have him not be traded this season, because that makes him ineligible for the supermax. He has to stay on the Raptors and make All-NBA this year; there's slim chance of that happening, but it's not zero. The season isn't even half over.

So yeah, I'd be putting it out there that Masai personally hates Siakam and took a dump on his lawn, and Pascal has stockholm syndrome and hates every city outside Toronto, because that makes opposing teams less likely to sweeten their offers for him.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Siakam's agent is up to no good either. He clearly has his motives and is trying to make life extremely difficult for the FO.
Notice how whenever there seems to be something materializing and a trade seems close to happening, a report will come out suggesting Siakam "wants to be a Raptor only" or "Siakam is gonna test FA no matter what".

The agent's name is Jaafar Choufani and he has a relatively small clientele, including Justin Champagnie and Paul Watson Jr., two other players the Raps seemingly gave up on.
This dude is out for bad blood. He knows the FO has no other choice but to trade Pascal and he's trying to minimize the potential return. He'll make sure Pascal doesn't commit to any team right now which will automatically supress his trade value.

The main agent is Todd Ramasar, who was the teammate of Rico and Earl Watson. These guys are connected to the NBA community.

The Raptors were the ones looking to trade Siakam. Any agent worth their salt is going to try and get their player in a place they want to play.

[Raptorland23]

Toronto has a strict off-season program where they want their players working with them. Siakam the last three years has refused to enter it and instead worked with his own people and Rico Hines

Masai last year went out of his way to accommodate Siakam and hired Hines only to find out Siakam still resisted the Raptors offseason programs and was already plotting his exit.

Hines was let go this off-season after all the drama he and Siakam created last year and all communication was cut off between Masai and Pascal. Masai in turn tried hard to trade him but pascal refused to sign extensions with any other team than his personal choice. That created even more friction and several trades were left on the table.

This is part of the true story from legit sources

[StopitLeo]

I’m not going to give too much credence to Toronto reporters who only ever “confirm” other people’s reports. This sounds like someone in Pascal’s camp trying to shape the narrative.