Pascal Siakam is thriving after trade to Indiana but Raptors appear to be finding form too

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It has been just shy of six weeks since the Raptors cemented a significant makeover by dealing top player Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers. Toronto has mostly struggled in the absence of its leading scorer as everyone adjusts to the revamp, but comes in to Monday’s road game at Indy with two straight wins.

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Meanwhile, before hosting a strong Dallas team on Sunday, Indiana had gone just 8-8 with Siakam in the lineup. That’s a disappointing tally to be sure, considering he was supposed to be the missing piece to propel the Pacers toward the top of the Eastern Conference, but keep in mind that all-star starter Tyrese Haliburton, the NBA leader in assists, missed five of the games due to injury and was under a minutes restriction and not at 100% for the first four following his return. The Pacers are just starting to grasp how good they can be offensively with a healthy Haliburton and Siakam linking up.

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It started with a win at Toronto just before the all-star break, in Siakam’s much heralded return to his long-time NBA home. Siakam notched 23 points and seven assists in that one, with Haliburton finally looking right. Haliburton then nearly won all-star game MVP as the hometown hero in Indianapolis and post-break the duo dominated lowly Detroit in a laugher. They hadn’t played since and were facing much stiffer competition in the Mavericks.

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Haliburton has seven games this season where he handed out at least 12 assists without committing a single turnover and most of those games came without Siakam. It’s going to be interesting to see what they can do together.

Overall, Siakam has been outstanding in his first 16 games as a Pacer. He’s shot a torrid 44% from three (including an unsustainable 61.5% from the corners), well above his 31.7% shooting this season as a Raptor, is turning the ball over less, rebounding better and looking more active defensively. No longer worried about his next contract (Siakam is going to be paid in full by the Pacers on a new long-tern deal) or dealing with endless trade rumours, Siakam looks free and has flourished. He hasn’t shot worse than 47% since Feb. 1 (nine games) and Indiana had won 3-of-4.

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It’s possible the Pacers sit Haliburton on Monday, given his recent injury and the game concluding a back-to-back, which would make Siakam the clear focal point.

Three of the players acquired through the spoils of the Siakam trade, Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk and Ochai Agbaji, are starting to play extremely well for the Raptors, making up a big part of a suddenly dangerous bench. One of the draft picks the Pacers sent to Toronto (likely the worst of the three) was the main piece that went to Utah for Olynyk and Agbaji, while Brown was the player who went north, along with Jordan Nwora who hasn’t made an impact yet. Brown, Olynyk, Agbaji, rookie Gradey Dick and one of Scottie Barnes or Immanuel Quickley have gelled nicely since the deal, particularly lately. Toronto will also get Indiana’s first round pick in 2026 and this summer. This year’s Indiana pick should land somewhere between 13th (if the Pacers continue to lurk around .500 with Siakam) and 23rd (if they go on a huge run).

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DOWN GOES YOUNG

Toronto’s chances at a play-in game appearance improved significantly on Sunday with the news that Atlanta all-star Trae Young tore a ligament in his hand and will miss at least a month. That means Young, easily the team’s leading scorer and play-maker (only Haliburton averages more assists) will miss more than half of the remaining Hawks games. Atlanta was three games up on free-falling Brooklyn and 3.5 ahead of Toronto for the East’s final play-in spot before hosting Orlando on Sunday. That said, Atlanta is nearly historically bad defensively and Young could well be the single worst defender in the NBA. Maybe what they lose in offence while he’s out will be cancelled out somewhat by defensive improvements?

@WolstatSun

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