1:52pm: A Raptors media spokesperson has said Charania’s report is “not correct,” tweets Lori Ewing of The Canadian Press. Blake Murphy of The Athletic (Twitter link) has heard the matter is still being discussed internally, but notes that reporting from his colleague Charania is rarely inaccurate.
12:24pm: The Raptors have fined Pascal Siakam $50K after a heated exchange with coach Nick Nurse, writes Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The incident took place Sunday in Cleveland as Toronto players were leaving the court after an 11-point defeat that pushed the team’s losing streak to eight games. It’s now at nine after another double-digit loss Monday in Houston.
Siakam directed “several choice words” toward his coach, multiple sources tell Charania. He didn’t play at all in the fourth quarter of the Cleveland game, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports, with Nurse keeping him on the bench as the Raptors tried to stage a comeback.
This has been a difficult season for the Raptors, who have fallen to 17-26 and are in danger of dropping out of playoff contention in the East. Siakam was an All-Star last season and continues to be productive at 19.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, but his outburst is an indication that tempers are short in the locker room.
“It ain’t no secret, we’ve gotta play defense and we’ve gotta play better,” Kyle Lowry told Doug Smith of The Toronto Star after Monday’s game. “It’s literally no secret to it, like I swear. I wish I could give you guys some other magical answer, but it’s literally no Groundhog Day. Every game’s different and we’re just not playing hard enough and we’re not playing well enough.”
Siakam is becoming a bit problematic as of late. After winning most improved, he thinks he is better than he is. Remain humble young guy, you are not Tim Duncan! I would trade Siakam for John Collins (sign and trade). Maybe that trade for PG & Russ for Siakam should have happened after all. Kawhi would have still been a raptor and we would still be contenders, as opposed to a team who forgot how to win and having Pascal have constant meltdowns!
Nice way to show his appreciation to the organization for giving him a $136 million contract contract guaranteed. Little baby. Disturbing how players take advantage of their guaranteed contracts. Doubt Siakam would have said ‘boo’ before receiving his big contract.
Seems like a lot of hypotheticals in there Foxtrot
Perhaps. I have no issue with him disagreeing with Nurse, but he hasn’t earned that right to throw a tantrum yet. Lowry could do that as he’s the best raptor ever, Siakam just became an allstar, he’s still getting there. I’m black too just like him and if I were in his situation…yes get upset & air out, but know how far to go. He isn’t Lowry, he definitely isn’t Duncan!
Pretty sure he was disciplined by the team earlier this year too. Not sure what the deal is but Powell’s been the better player this season IMO
If Dwayne Casey can be fired after losing in the postseason, I doubt Ujiri is going to allow Nick Nurse to stick around too much longer. But who knows
The issue with the team is the complete lack of depth, not coaching. Nurse isn’t going anywhere.
Nurse has shown to be one of the better coaches in the NBA. Occasionally teams and people have off years. This could very well be one of them. Could also be a sign that players such as Lowry are on the wrong side of their career.
If Nurse gets fired, he’ll have a job in about five minutes. His playoff scheming and countering the last couple of years has been masterful. Next level, even.
He’s almost certainly one of the best coaches in the league.
Huh? If “New school NBA coach” was in the dictionary a picture of nick nurse would be right there.
No I get everyone’s points…but Dwayne Casey was 166-80 (67.4%) in his last three TOR seasons. Nick Nurse is 128-69 (65.0%). While Casey had high expectations with the talent he had and Nick Nurse doesn’t with this years lack of talent, my point was with Ujiri who knows if his job will be safe in the next year or two if this keeps up. I could be completely wrong about that, but that is an organization that usually expects good things no matter the talent excuse.
Just my 2 cents, I have no evidence to back up my thoughts lol
So player yelling at coaches in the heat of the moment is a bad thing?? so we just going to sit here and not let players get mad if they don’t like how things are going . Way to defend your team smh
It’s one thing to get angry and disagree, it’s another to voice “choice words” at a coach if you’re going to respect them. It becomes personal, and if you don’t like the coach, take the high road otherwise you’re going to be viewed as a potential issue in the locker room that feels entitled.
Yes I think “choice words” is a polite way of saying he cursed at the coach. Do you know anyone anywhere who gets away with cursing at their boss? Part of being a good teammate is maintaining some sort of collegiality with your co-workers.
But in the NBA, it’s the boss who will get fired, because, after all, it’s the “player’s league”. At some point this sort of childish behavior needs to have a real penalty. 50k is like lunch money to these players.
So you wouldn’t be mad too if you lost 8 in the row? Story like this all always one sided because we don’t know what the coach might of done or said to make this happen. Cant always blame the player. It basketball players like to win not lose 8 in a row . Things happen. We can’t be soft like the world has become
We also cannot allow grown men to throw tantrums just because things didn’t work out exactly as they wanted. Being angry about a situation is one thing, but not acting upon that anger is called being a professional and an adult.
That’s true in most cases. But are some times where teams decide to move on from players that are just not happy anymore. Toronto will have to decide if it views Siakam as an actual future franchise player or if he is just the best young player they have at the moment. If the Raptors are going to sell off Powell and Lowry and others, it’s not much of a leap to put Siakam on the block as well. He could command a really nice package for a team likely to be rebuilding for the next couple of years.
I wouldn’t trade him though if I saw him as a guy to build around, but if I saw him as a good young player with a bad attitude I might try to swap him for a package of young guys and/or picks.
I would trade Siakam for Vucevic in a heartbeat if I could.
I wasn’t thinking Vucevic, but it is interesting that a Raptors fan would make that deal. As a neutral observer, I would have thought that Orlando would be happier to make that deal.
I am curious as to what everyone else thinks about that idea.
@hiflew… well Siakam ain’t exactly a yound dude, right?
I would say he is more of a vet or at his peak at 27, he ain’t gonna get much better, right?
It’s clearly a referee’s league.
@stevep-4… Coaches don’t matter that is why they get fired & rightly so!
I mean the best ever coach in a bad team is gonna loose all day long… a great team can win even without a coach, like at all!
Siakam isn’t Lowry. He hasn’t earned the right. Remember when the heat big 3 were together? Wade blew up at Coach Spot on the sidelines, nothing happened. It was worked out and they moved on and won. Wade earned that, Siakam hasn’t yet!
I’m mean wasn’t he part of the team that won a ring way before this dude was even the hc?? So he has rights don’t act like he some new guy
He’s been in the league what 5 years, that doesn’t give him the right to get at the coach like that. Whether it’s Nurse, Casey or whomever. Lowry has been in the league since what 2005, the best raptor ever. Do you see the difference??? Siakam hasn’t earned that right yet.
2006
Yea my mistake
Nick Nurse was the coach when the Raptors won the title, and Siakam really didn’t explode onto the scene until that year (not saying Nurse caused that, maybe just a mix of having Kawhi, good coaching, and Siakam putting it all together).
Siakam has definitely earned some respect, but if he’s acting like a diva superstar (and I’m not saying that he is), he hasn’t earned that level of respect/authority yet.
My point is get upset but know how far to take it. Siakam hasn’t been a raptor long enough to take it that far. Lowry could do that and nothing would be mentioned. Heck if Vanvleet did it he too would get a pass. Siakam thinks he’s better then he is.
Bruh how far he can take it? This is in ur head only. He is grown man he do whatever he want. I guarantee he know the team better than u ever will so dont tell spicy p how 2 act stick 2 the comment section
Very interesting that the team is getting involved and they aren’t just handling this behind the scenes. Not a good look for Pascal…wonder if he’s gone after this week?
Not saying he can’t speak his mind, just wondering why they cared enough to make a big deal out of it.
This report is being denied by the Raptors. Here is the link from Sportsnet.ca.
link to sportsnet.ca
Denying the fine, not the situation.