Back Home: Pascal Siakam Shares Advice for Scottie Barnes & Reflects on Raptors Tenure

Pascal Siakam is back playing with joy.

The moment the curtains pulled back and shootaround at Scotiabank Arena opened to Wednesday morning there seemed to be a smile on Siakam’s face. He spent a little while working with his new Indiana Pacers training staff getting up shots alongside Obi Toppin and there was a noticeable cheeriness as he got his work in.

That’s not to say Siakam didn’t enjoy his time with the Toronto Raptors.

For eight years, he and Toronto accomplished some remarkable feats. He developed from a late first-round pick and unknown forward to a two-time All-NBA player, league Most Improved Player, NBA Champion, and the face of the franchise in Toronto.

But eventually, it was time to move on.

The slog of last season and the emergence of Scottie Barnes over the past three years meant the Raptors were ready to turn the page on the most successful era in franchise history. It meant handing the keys to the franchise over to Barnes and as long as Siakam was around, that wasn’t going to be possible.

“This was home for me. I've always wanted to be here and be a part of this but at the end of the day, I also understand what it is,” Siakam said Wednesday morning as he prepared for his return to Toronto for the first time since the organization traded him to the Pacers.

Siakam understood the situation in Toronto. Sure, the organization could have been more upfront with him throughout the summer, a mistake Raptors president Masai Ujiri accepted responsibility for, but there are no hurt feelings.

“To be honest, I get it, I understand the business. I've been around, so I've seen things happen,” Siakam said. “I'm in a situation, like I said, where it just feels amazing. And I think that at this point is, yeah, I kind of like moved on from it.”

But he hasn’t abandoned those times completely.

It was weird, he said, walking into the arena for the first time as a visitor. There are walkways and entrances he’s rarely been down and a feeling that he’s never experienced before. He didn’t get overly emotional, but that’ll certainly be coming later Wednesday night.

“Just seeing everyone is going to be exciting, I’m sure seeing some of the fans, certain faces I’ve seen every game, you know what I mean. Seeing those faces, I think it gives you a little peaceful feeling: I know what this feels like,” Siakam said of the ovation he’ll undoubtedly receive during his pre-game tribute video.

Having moved on, Siakam is thriving in his new home.

He’s feeling valued on a team that was looking for another star to pair alongside Tyrese Haliburton. Statistically, he’s put up the best offensive efficiency numbers of his career since joining the Pacers and he’s still averaging 21.3 points as the No. 2 offensive option on the league’s most lethal attack.

“It feels good, it feels amazing. I said that before, just being somewhere from the first time I stepped in there, it’s just been so much love, so much appreciation, and just like overly supportive in everything,” he said.

For Toronto, Siakam’s departure paved the way for Barnes to take on a bigger role. It’s been an up-and-down stretch for Barnes who has struggled with his on-court production and leadership since the Siakam trade, but this is part of the growing pains for the 22-year-old All-Star forward.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Siakam was in a similar place, trying to find his voice on a disappointing 2020-21 Raptors team before Barnes arrived that summer.

“I think it's hard. It's tough. As a young man coming in, it's going to be a lot of ups and downs,” Siakam said he told Barnes. “There's going to be things that's not going to look so good and there's going to be days where it’s going to be amazing, it’s going to be great. I think that he's just got to be able to take those kinds of waves and as he continues to learn from it, he's going to grow.”

Even if the divorce wasn’t as smooth as anyone would have hoped, Siakam and the Raptors both seem to be heading in the right direction now. He’s happy helping to lead a young Pacers team to heights they’ve never reached before, and Toronto realized it was time to make Barnes the organization’s top priority.

It wasn’t easy, but everyone should be happy now.