Pascal Siakam Ranked Among League's Best With an Outside Chance for All-NBA Honors
Pascal Siakam has millions of dollars on the line this season.
The two-time All-NBA forward remains for now without a contract through next season. All indications are the Toronto Raptors aren’t in a hurry to ink a new deal, despite interest from Siakam’s camp, but that might end up helping Siakam who could see his max contract value skyrocket with another All-NBA nod this season.
Siakam narrowly missed an All-NBA spot last season, finishing the year as the ninth-best forward in the NBA, according to All-NBA voters. He was helped by the fact that Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and others missed large swaths of the season, essentially disqualifying them from All-NBA contention.
This year, though, things are a little different. The NBA has done away with positions for All-NBA voting and added a games played minimum of 65 games to encourage the league’s stars to play as much as possible.
Entering this season, Siakam likely sits on the outside of the NBA’s top 15 players and a spot on an All-NBA roster. The Ringer ranked him as No. 25 in the league, a spot ahead of Zion Williamson, Jalen Brunson, Trae Young, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Lauri Markkanen, to name a few.
That said, Siakam has been reliable when it comes to games played for virtually his entire career. He’s played in at least 80% of Toronto’s games in five of the last six seasons and just narrowly missed the mark during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season. If that remains the case, a spot on an All-NBA team might be realistic.
It's going to take more winning from Toronto for Siakam to get there this year. His box score stats were as good as almost anyone else in the All-NBA forward conversation, but it’s hard to earn a spot when you’re the No. 1 player on a 41-win team.
For now, Siakam remains on the outside of the league’s true superstar circle, a player closer to the top 20 to 30 range than the top 15. But these days, that’s not exactly what matters when it comes to All-NBA status. If he’s top 25 again with 65 games played, a supermax contract could be on the horizon.
