BREAKING NEWS: Five reasons why the Toronto Raptors’ Pascal Siakam trade was a massive win for Pacers

The Indiana Pacers have at last achieved their goal, ladies and gentlemen. Following weeks of conjecture and anxiety around the potential loss of Bennedict Mathurin or Jarace Walker, the Pacers have formally acquired Pascal Siakam, a former Toronto Raptors All-Star.

What’s the best thing, then? They did not give up any key elements in their trade for Siakam. Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, two 2024 first-round picks (one of which is the Pacers’), and Indiana’s own 2026 first-round pick were included in the final trade deal that was delivered to Toronto, as revealed by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
This move came as no surprise to Pacers and Raptors fans in particular, as most had assumed Indiana would part with at least one member of their young core in order to acquire Siaikam, who, despite having a contract that expires, is still regarded as a game-changer for a team and was an All-Star and All-NBA selection two years ago.

But as talks went on and Toronto and Indiana grew closer to a deal, it became evident that the Pacers would not entertain a trade centred around draft picks and that Walker and Mathurin were off-limits.

Fans who speculated that Toronto let the trade reports leak in the hopes that a different team would make a greater offer began to doubt the validity of this report. Unfortunately for the Raptors, the deal never arrived, and at around 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, the transaction was finalized for Pascal Siakam to be an Indiana Pacer.

The biggest worry, and maybe the only one among Pacers supporters, both before and after the trade was Siakam’s impending contract expiration. There is concern that Siakam would sign a free agent contract with another team at the first opportunity and leave Indiana empty-handed.

This was the exact reason why supporters were reluctant to include Walker or Mathurin in the transaction and why neither of the two young players—or even Andrew Nembhard, whom supporters of the Raptors were expecting to get as a consolation prize—was included in the final discussions.

Nevertheless, some Pacers fans are still unsure about the trade despite it having been completed, with Siakam travelling to Indiana for essentially pennies on the dollar and Jarace, Mathurin, and Nembhard remaining in Indiana. These three factors make the Indiana Pacers’ acquisition of Pascal Siakam a huge success.