Although he reportedly doesn’t want to play anywhere but Toronto, Pascal Siakam and the Raptors have yet to formally meet to discuss a possible contract extension, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca, who says that trade speculation about the two-time All-NBA forward continues to percolate.
As Grange previously reported, the Hawks, who have been repeatedly linked to Siakam throughout the offseason, attempted to re-engage the Raptors in trade talks this past weekend, while other teams are also believed to have checked in. One possible trade scenario that Grange has heard about would involve both the Hawks and Rockets, though he’s not sure about the specifics.
Despite the rumors and speculation, it remains unclear whether the Raptors are seriously thinking about moving the 29-year-old. According to Grange, sources around the league who had questions about Toronto’s direction entering this offseason still haven’t been able to get a clear read on the front office’s plans.
“They’re not the easiest team to deal with, I’ll just say that,” one source said to Grange.
Siakam isn’t the only Raptors forward who should still be considered a possible trade candidate. OG Anunoby is entering a contract year and isn’t necessarily assured of a long-term future in Toronto. Grange says Anunoby “remains on the watch list for several teams” and singles out the Knicks as one club with considerable interest.
Here’s more on the Raptors:
- According to Grange, the Raptors’ veterans – particularly Siakam and Fred VanVleet – were frustrated last season by some of the team’s younger players. VanVleet “let them know about it, something the younger set didn’t appreciate at all,” Grange writes.
- In the same story, Grange says that Raptors president Masai Ujiri spoke to players multiple times last season to express his displeasure with “selfish play and poor body language.” According to Grange, former head coach Nick Nurse may have been planning his exit from the franchise during the season, recognizing that he would likely be let go at season’s end.
- The best offer the Raptors were prepared to make to VanVleet in free agency was a four-year deal that included a partially guaranteed final year, with $100MM in total guaranteed money, Grange reports. VanVleet opted for the Rockets’ three-year, $128MM+ deal, even though it will reportedly only include two guaranteed seasons.
- Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca checks in on a number of Raptors-related topics, including where the team’s 2023/24 cap stands and why the club decided to guarantee Thaddeus Young‘s $8MM salary for the coming season.
If the Sixers have a max slot next year, Siakam is probably their top target, followed by OG.
Toronto will probably keep their vets in tow, and see what happens through the start of the season.
If they have a hard time winning then I think Toronto will more seriously explore moving Annunoby, and Siakam. Maybe both?
They can’t be dumb enough to think they are in the same tier as BOS, MIL, PHI, CLE & MIA. They’re in a tier with ATL, CHI, NYK and INDY, maybe even Det
Masai isn’t going to rebuild. Not sure why anyone implies that he would. He’s never done it, even going back to his Denver days. Even when Carmelo demanded a trade, he refused to tank. He will never do it in Toronto, either, no matter how many pieces he loses for nothing.
You mean he hasn’t tanked. He didn’t need to rebuild in DEN since they had a 50+ win team, and the Melo trade brought back 3 quality NBA rotation pieces. He inherited the core in TOR as well, but he rebuilt the roster around them (traded away high priced vets for draft picks, three of which turned into Poetl, Powell and Anunoby). He didn’t tank, although nothing he really could have done (short of coaching the team himself) to get the teams he inherited to 50+ losses.
Those instances were more examples of retooling on the fly where he was forced into a corner and had to make a move (Such as the Carmelo trade demand, the Lowry sign and trade, the Norman Powell trade, the Bargnani trade) rather than willingly taking a step back and rebuilding.
Semantics perhaps. Whatever one calls trading away your two highest priced players (Gay and Bargnani) in your first year on the job, for cap relief and draft picks, he did it. I call it rebuilding (though certainly not tanking), you retooling on the fly. Seemed pretty voluntary and calculated.
True, you have a point. Maybe the Gay and Bargnani trades were intended to be a step back at the time in order to position the team for the Wiggins/Parker/Embiid draft but the East was so weak at the time that the team overachieved.
But even then, the thoughts of moving players like Lowry and DeRozan at the time in 2013 weren’t even on the table so it was what Masai always does outside of 2018-2020, ie refuse to pick a direction.
I thought Ujiri’s first year in TOR was his finest hour. In DEN he took over a 50+ team from a FO that left for better jobs. Here, he took over a non-playoff team from a FO that was fired. Most new FO chiefs today would just blow it up, and call it rebuilding.
Historically, rebuilding meant something far closer to what Ujiri did in TOR that year. He actually evaluated the roster, and found that the prior regime collected a lot of talent (go figure), albeit in ill fitting pieces and which sported a bloated payroll. I think he did pick a direction. He identified a younger core he could build around going forward (Lowry, DeRozan, Ross, JV), and shedded or converted most of the rest to complementary pieces around them. That’s rebuilding too, and it takes more ability than just demolishing everything that’s there when you start, and, historically, it yields far better results short and long term.
Unfortunately, in the current situation, I’m sure he’s going through the same process. But I suspect that his ego is larger now, and its making his evaluations less objective. I guess it’s harder to evaluate guys that you put in place, when you’re supposed to be genius. He wants to believe tinkering will do it. Most think more is needed, something that involves major pieces. I think he needs to remember his roots.
No bigger ego than the Masai one. He’s the King (or rather the Putin) and we’re lucky now to have his presence in those rare “news conferences.” And don’t get me started about those idiotic Mandela annuals.
Lowry almost got moved to the Knicks back then but after the Gay trade, Raps started winning so the trade never happened.
And that is exactly why the raptors are the laughing stock of the NBA. Masai is happy to be around 500 instead of last
He thinks being 10th instead of 12th is actually a success when in reality it’s not.
I hope the young Rockets players show a better vibe for Van Vleet. It looks like Jalen Green might be buying in after seeing he and Fred working out together on Twitter.
So FVV was frustrated with young players in TOR, good luck in HOU.
Ime is better than Nurse!
Better at what. Cheating on his wife.
I dunno, TORs only change atm is NN, that speaks volume of what Masai thought of him. Fred is obviously a change to, but Raptors were never going to pay him what HOU offered
The young players for the Rockets were begging for structure and veteran presence. They understand that they need that voice from someone like FVV. Green talked about how his first interaction with Ime Udoka is that he’ll do anything Ime tells him just to win. These young guys have the drive to win. They just had no shot at success previously.
Raptors messed up by not hiring a coach, in stead of some privileged nobody
Privileged? A 44 year old from a war-torn Serbia is certainly not that privileged bud.
I’d say going from “war-torn” to head coach of an NBA team is fairly privileged…
He can from nothing, worked his way through the ranks, and became a head coach. He bootstrapped his bootstraps all the way to the top
I am using the word privilege according to its actual definition…
The cultural slang commonly used today is something completely different than how I interpret what a privelege is or is not.
Privelege is always earned, and is a reward as a sign of respect.
Privelege in todays common slang means to have something given for nothing. That is not what a privelege is.
Cute
Another completely inane take from our boy Kurtis.