What wrong Raptors did to Siakam that he is giving such hard time to Raptors?

[mdenny]

Pascal does not have to sign with a random team in order to appease the front office. I'm not sure why people expect him to make a critically important life decision in the middle of a season for a team he has never played on and a city he has never lived in.

Siakam is trying to protect his own value. It can't really go up because of a trade but it can certainly go down. If he gets traded to a team and his usage goes way down....it could impact his pay day. His best, most rational course of action would be to finish the season in toronto (where he is confidant to sustain his numbers) and then go to the highest bidder.

If the raptors really want to counter his tactics....they should lower his usage. That would spur his desire to be traded (again....to sustain his numbers). But there are reputational costs to FOs who behave like that. It's not a video game. Players talk to each other.

[HumbleRen]

Siakam is easily a max player, just not on a rebuilding team.

Tobias Harris makes more than Siakam and nobody gives a **** because he’s on a contender. We should of traded him as soon as Scottie won ROTY but alas, now we have to trade from a position of weakness.

Tobias harris is a toxic contract which philly has been trying to unload for a few years now. That is what Siakam’s contract will be in 2 years

Siakam is a much better player than Tobias Harris, cmon.

I’m not saying we should max out Siakam, I’m just simply saying he’s a max player on a contending team.

[StopitLeo]

You have to look at it this way, if this was a KD or Kawhi or Giannis or Tatum or any of the main top 20 players in the nba in their final year, we would be getting really good offers for them. The issue really is here that we treated Siakam like a max player and gave him the reigns. The league is not stupid, they know he should be paid around 35 Mil, and dont want to be stuck with a 5 year max contract for a non max player. This is why we are getting crappy offers. So all the blame is on Masai who has become a terrible talent evaluator. He propped him like a major star and now its coming to bite him

jerami grant got paid 32; og will be paid around 35; if the league thinks he doesn't deserve more than 35, then that is severe underpayment.

Surge is just wrong here. The hangup for teams is not "we don't want to pay x for siakam". Many of them are lux tax teams. The issue is "how do we know siakam won't sign elsewhere". And siakam IS taking advantage of that dynamic which is his right.

It’s probably more: “We aren’t going to offer him a maximum 5 year deal so how do we know he isn’t going to sign elsewhere since the only difference in the maximum 4 year deal we can offer is 8% maximum raises versus 5% from another team?”

[srhcan]

The max is not an issue. All the teams who want to trade for him, want to give him max. He can easily agree for any trade and get the max from that team. He is a max player.
So the issue is something different. He is punishing Raptors.

What?

Read on Twitter

[CazOnReal]

Siakam is smelly and is totally sleeping with everyone's wives/husbands/common law partners

[Johnny Bball]

The max is not an issue. All the teams who want to trade for him, want to give him max. He can easily agree for any trade and get the max from that team. He is a max player.
So the issue is something different. He is punishing Raptors.

What?

Read on Twitter

Nothing like jamming that in afterwards.

[johanliebert]

What?

Read on Twitter

Nothing like jamming that in afterwards.

How he played in the bubbled had me sour on Pascal as well. Thats when it was apparent that hes not a #1 option nor wants to be one.

[johanliebert]

So calling him selfish in the media and publicly chastising him, cutting him off completely in the summer and severely straining the relationship isnt enough of a reason for a guy to focus on doing what's best for himself?

Im a masai guy but come on. The way hes treated siakam is just not good.

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

That max extension he got in 2019 is more than enough from masai

[TravisScott55]

He just wants any potential team trading for him to know he wants a max.

[Johnny Bball]

He just wants any potential team trading for him to know he wants a max.

Its less of a stretch and less damaging than Lowry telling everyone he will want 30 million per year.

[Hero_Panda]

Siakam is smelly and is totally sleeping with everyone's wives/husbands/common law partners

Watch on YouTube

[Kevin Willis]

his preference is to get the bag, you think in a vacuum he'd want to continue playing here?

https://www.si.com/nba/raptors/news/toronto-raptors-pascal-siakam-does-not-want-to-be-traded

That came out when ATL wanted him. he knows we don't want to pay him the max and knows we would facilitate a move in the offseason. He's not dumb

He wants to be here. You have the burden of proof to show he doesn't, he has already showed that he does.

[agkagk]

Main issue is that the only way he can qualify for the supermax is if he enters free agency as a raptor.


Also, management appears to be running him out of town lol

[ItsDanger]

When a player mails it in on defense, he wants out. Its been like this for a while now.

[Jadoogar]

He's not doing anything wrong. He's well within his rights to say he will test free agency. It's the smart thing for him to do.
He's not saying he will not resign, just that he won't sign an extension right now. Whatever team trades for him will still be in the driver's seat in the summer.

[torsport]

I don't get the negative on Pascal.

Look if my work tried to send me to Atlanta, I'd quit and find another gig. Why would I want to leave my home, family, friends, etc.? We think of players too much like assets and moveable pieces, but they're people.

I get it, 'it's a business', but again players are people.

Pascal earned his right to be an FA. It's gotten to this point due to poor asset management. The issue is on management, not Pascal.

Management can still come up with a good outcome, so I'm waiting on that. But Pascal has been a great player for the Raps. I appreciate what he's done and support him exercising his rights as a player/person.

[ItsDanger]

Management has the right to trade Siakam too, for no reason. But likely reason was he declined an extension. Siakam has the right to explore free agency and not extend, probably to try for 5th year.

Why people on here persist on supporting one side's "rights" is very odd.

[Raptaurus]

After Kwahi left, Pascal never showed up when it counted the most while the rest of the team did. They otherwise had a good chance of heading back to the finals. So not sure why his agent is complaining about the “disrespect” shown to his client in the aftermath of all that.

At this point, Siakam is doing what he can to protect his future earnings. If Toronto pays him more, he will gladly stay here but if they dont, he will go wherever he can get the MAX for 5 years. I dont think he is hung up on living in a particular city. He was born in Cameroon but went to high school in Texas and played college ball in Albuquerque and now lives in the offseason In florida.

Masai lost a lot of leverage when he instead chose to “to see what we got” even when the writing was on the wall for this roster. Probably could have gotten much more if he was dealt last year.

[RapsAndJays21]

People on social acting like the treatment of Pascal will affect free agency/retaining guys in the future... this won't make a difference.

[StopitLeo]

So we are just assuming the leaks about signing/not signing are from Pascal’s agent? What’s the benefit of putting it out publicly that he won’t sign an extension or commit to one in the offseason when they can communicate that to teams privately through various non-tampering channels?

Or is that how they are communicating with Masai now? Through the media?

Players and teams always respond to trades by saying “it’s a business”. Well it’s a business before the trade too. Both player and team are looking out for their best interests. Nothing wrong with that.

Feels like we are creating a bigger issue than there is if one even exists. This isn’t like the drama we have seen with Harden, Simmons, or even Kawhi with the Spurs.