The Hawks have been the strongest suitor to date for star forward Pascal Siakam, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports that Atlanta has offered the Raptors a package that includes forward De’Andre Hunter, swingman AJ Griffin, and draft compensation in exchange for Siakam.
The Raptors have resisted the Hawks’ overtures and are “believed to have upped the price on any possible deal at each turn,” Charania says.
As Charania outlines in his story, it has become increasingly rare for a player of Siakam’s caliber to enter a contract year without some sort of clarity on his long-term future. However, he and the Raptors have yet to seriously engage in negotiations on a potential contract extension, and the 29-year-old also hasn’t requested a trade, sources tell The Athletic.
Siakam has been considered a trade candidate since well before February’s deadline due to his contract situation and his positional and skill-set overlap with rising star Scottie Barnes, the 2022 Rookie of the Year.
Charania suggests that Siakam’s trade value has been limited to some extent by the fact that the two-time All-NBA forward has privately expressed a desire to remain in Toronto and an unwillingness to sign an extension with any team that acquires him.
Siakam is currently eligible for a maximum-salary extension worth up to 30% of the cap — earning another All-NBA nod in 2024 would make him eligible for a super-max contract that starts at 35% of the cap, but he would only be able to sign such a deal with the Raptors. A trade would make him ineligible for a super-max contract.
Atlanta isn’t the only club to express interest in Siakam, Charania notes, but it doesn’t appear that any other suitor has made significant headway with the Raptors. The Pacers are among the other clubs previously reported to be interested.
For what it’s worth, the Hawks’ offer for Siakam as described by Charania appears incomplete, since Hunter’s and Griffin’s combined salaries ($23.8MM) wouldn’t be nearly enough to match Siakam’s $37.9MM cap hit for 2023/24.
There has been some chatter about the possibility of Atlanta sending Clint Capela ($20.6MM) to a third team – like the Mavericks – as part of a trade for Siakam, but such a structure would require that third team to send at least one player to Toronto. Dallas doesn’t have a big expiring contract to close that salary gap and would likely have to include some combination of Tim Hardaway Jr. ($17.9MM), Richaun Holmes ($12MM), and JaVale McGee ($5.7MM), each of whom has two years left on his respective deal.
As for the Hawks’ movable draft assets, they owe two of their own future first-round picks to San Antonio as part of the Dejounte Murray trade, but they could offer Sacramento’s lottery-protected 2024 first-rounder as well as their own first-rounder in either 2029 or 2030.
For now, trade talks between Toronto and Atlanta are “at a complete pause,” according to Charania, who says the Hawks are “fully prepared” to enter the 2023/24 season with their current roster.
No one is going anywhere. The upping of the antes assures us of this. What waiting to see what happens season is all about.
Nothing.
It kind of makes sense that the package doesn’t appeal to Toronto, because what the really need is a PG. More forwards would just create a logjam at this point. I don’t think a trade’s getting done between Toronto and Atlanta unless they can get a third team involved.
Exactly what I was thinking. If siakam and Barnes have positional overlap, wouldn’t Barnes/Hunter/griffin have the exact same overlap? Mid 6 feet 220ish lb forwards galore!
Hunter and Griffin are better outside shooters than Siakam and Barnes and don’t need the ball in their hands as much to be effective, but it’s fair to say that adding them wouldn’t exactly balance out the roster.
Shooting is nice, but neither of them is much of a shot creator, particularly from 3. They had the ability to impact the team positively, but the Raptors struggles largely come down to shot creation, whether that’s for themselves or teammates. The quality of the offer is fine, it’s just not what they need.
they’re both better than you think at creating quality looks though, in all likelihood
It’s not like they’re bad, but they’re not a replacement for what the Raptors would lose in the ball handling, playmaking, rebounding, shot making of Siakam, let alone increasing their shot creation beyond what he offers. People tend to underestimate just how much he does for the Raptors. Without him, they’d have been a lottery team last season. It’s not like either is a bad player. They’re just not what the Raptors would need or want.
link to sbnation.com
The Toronto front office really is the most pathetic FO in the NBA
They’ve def been making some head scratcher moves.
They got a chip – they can do whatever they want
Imo Siakam is one of the most overrated players available he may put up some decent numbers because someone needs to on a team
You clearly haven’t watched him play much
Hah, tf kind of offer is that? Hawks treating them like a desperate tank team when the Raptors had the same exact record and more potential
might actually be too much for a probable one year rental
Hard to overstate how much y’all suck at talking basketball smh
There are dummies on every sports message board but also plenty of people who know their stuff. If you’re gonna clown on everyone else, at least add something to the conversation otherwise you’re no better.
I been waiting & waiting for the “plenty of people who know their stuff” to reveal themselves & that hasn’t happened. I would take even one person that “knows their stuff” & that can have a real convos about basketball tbh. I mean just look at the comments on this thread. Nobody is saying anything substantial at all except the Luke Adams comment. It’s the same on pretty much every comment section on every article on this site… I’m pretty sure I proposed this same exact trade that the article is referencing multiple times in the past couple weeks, including yesterday & this type of thing is just beyond yalls understanding for some reason. It’s weird that this site which is dedicated to basketball would be so devoid of any substantial discourse/debate on basketball. The only comment on this thread that is logical comes from Luke Adams but it’s hard for me to give him or any of the writers on this site any credit bc tbh i truly feel like it’s their view of the game & the slanted way they cover it that foments the anti-athlete/anti-logic environment that produces the type of comments that pervade this/every comment section
You do realize that most of the time it’s people’s opinions not facts
Ok, go ahead, give your actual analysis of this offer. Let’s see what you got? Cause so far you ain’t saying ish
I dont don’t think 70% + of people even read the full articles so saying they are being brainwashed is a stretch imo
* Also I think one of the better aspects of this website is that the authors don’t really express a personal opinion it is more just an informative website, one that does a great job at it as well imo
Gossip,and day-time drama is far from intelligence. Which is data collection, investigation, beta-testing, and research.
Go coach some kids ages 10-14 for a while, and whatever itch you are not getting scratched by the commenters here should be dealt with.
If your basketball intellect is so caged, and unappreciated.
This is rich coming from you Stanky. Aren’t you on here every other day asking people to rank sit coms?
Bro aren’t you just that guy that thinks every player the Hawks touches is gold?
To be fair sankara, your posts don’t add anything either. You just make up stupid hypothetical questions and demand people answer. You might be trying to appear knowledgeable, but have yet to actually express any knowledge. Again not saying you don’t know what you’re talking about, just that your posts are equally childish for a different reason.
Also, this board is filled with teenagers and 20-something’s who think they know everything and lack the skills to properly convey that information, instead just calling names and making baseless statements.
The worst are the trolls pretending to be fans, like whatever that clowns name is these days, 8ringscurry whatever, doesn’t even know the ball is round.
You are probably the worst offender here at putting out bad basketball analysis. Also, if you think we’re all that bad, you are free to stop posting.
Murray is the one Atlanta will have to offer. To get a deal done.
hahahah like a team’s gonna trade all those first rounders for a guy and them ship him out for a one year rental. wtf
he just signed a team friendly deal, he’s not going anywhere
The package isn’t great and there’s no reason Toronto should make that deal, but that front office in Toronto is awful. Always trying to outsmart everyone and they end up with a huge roster jam at specific positions and they demand the moon for every player they have. Real smart to get nothing for FVV too.
Not one player has ever echoed this comment about the current front office.
“Not one player has ever echoed this comment about the current front office”
That you know about.
Odds are good that any single player has said most anything about any team.
How about Pascal and Dowtin for Bogdon, OO, Mills, Bufkin and Griffin
Toronto then can trade OG, Jacob, Dennis Shroe and Trent and Start a rebuild. Anyone?
Not dowtin! Josh lewenberg will have a stroke if they trade him
Depending on the draft compensation, it’s a quality offer, and I would explore it. But I’m not surprised that Ujiri won’t. I don’t think he wants to trade Siakam. Which he shouldn’t do if he values him as highly as he says. The issue is why he invites trade interest in him (and others). He’s been doing it for a year and a half. Maybe he plans to get serious at some point and wants continuous fresh offers. But from the perspective of the other teams, it appears a waste of time to engage with him.
Just bc a guy hasn’t been traded yet doesn’t mean that he’ll never be traded or that it’s waste of time to try to acquire him
Well then, it’s a good thing I didn’t say that. LOL.
It honestly feels like Ujiri is just trying to see the hands of the other teams/GMs. I guess the “logical” take on his actions is “If a player of Siakam’s caliber becomes available, what are teams willing to give up for him? How can we use that to outbid them?” But I don’t buy that he’s put that much thought into it.
Well, that’s the problem. In a perfect world, all teams would get real time third team market valuations of their better players on demand, whether there is an intent to trade them or not. Out of respect for other FO’s, and the players involved or affected directly or indirectly, it’s expected that a FO will exercise some self-control with how often they initiate the process just on the chance.
Basically, you trade players (or only should trade them) when another team values them more than you do. That’s the only rational basis to sell anything. How often do you need to initiate a process to find out if that’s so? Not continuously for 18 months.
Dxc it’s funny how you believe the narrative that stein and shams push. It’s the same every off-season and it’s always how the Raps fo is so difficult to deal with or they’re holding up a trade or blah blah blah. They spin what teams pay them to spin. I bet siakam resigns to a less than max extension and this is all fodder
LOL. I couldn’t care less about any media narratives, and haven’t even heard of the one you mention. Nor, btw, does my post suggest any general narrative about the TOR FO. My post relates only to TOR’s practices over the last 3 trade periods as it relates to Siakam (and I could have added OG, although I didn’t), and it really isn’t about the TOR FO being difficult to deal with. Completely different topic. Maybe you should stop reading comments of others with an assumption that it relates to something that’s causing you angst. They rarely do.
How do you know that it’s Masai dangling his players as trade Bait instead of other gms constantly chasing him because the team has been underperformed? Masai has constantly said he does not rebuild. But hear you are saying otherwise. I’ll trust him over you and wherever you get this made up stuff:
“The issue is why he invites trade interest in him (and others).”
“Siakam is currently eligible for a maximum-salary extension worth up to 30% of the cap — earning another All-NBA nod in 2024 would make him eligible for a super-max contract that starts at 35% of the cap, but he would only be able to sign such a deal with the Raptors. A trade would make him ineligible for a super-max contract.”
Something tells me his love for Toronto isn’t all it’s made out to be…
If anybody is traded I think it’s OG for the primary reason that they do not want to rebuild and to get an equal talent back that’s a better fit positionally they need to give up the “better asset”. Then re-sign Siakam to close to max extension and they have a reconfigured core to build around with future picks and win as much as possible now.
Everyone is clueless in these chats. Only six or seven people know anything related to basketball