In a major shakeup, the Indiana Pacers have reportedly reached an agreement to acquire All-Star power forward Pascal Siakam from the Toronto Raptors. The deal, which involves multiple players and draft picks, is expected to impact the immediaate and long-term futures of both teams.
Breaking the News
The news broke via X after plenty of smoke surrounded the rumored deal over the previous several weeks.
BREAKING: The Indiana Pacers are finalizing a trade to acquire All-Star F Pascal Siakam in a deal that will send Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora and three first-round picks to the Toronto Raptors. New Orleans will be a third team in deal, sending Kira Lewis to the Raptors.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 17, 2024
Players in the Mix
The centerpiece of the trade is obviously Siakam. The star forward will provide another star to play alongside Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana’s franchise player. He brings scoring and solid defense to the team and should help the Pacers for the forseeable future, assuming he can be convinced to re-sign with the team this offseason.
In return, Toronto will receive Bruce Brown and Jordan Nwora. Brown signed with the Pacers before this season and had failed to provide what many fans expected in the way of impact when he arrived from Denver. Nwora, a 25-year old forward, had been with Indiana since being accquired from Milwaukee in a trade in February of 2023. He appeared in 18 games this season for Indiana, averaging 5.2 points per game. Additionally, the Raptors will receive a haul of three first-round picks, sweetening the deal for a rebuilding Toronto.
The New Orleans Pelicans are also reported to be involved in the deal as they send Kira Lewis, the 13th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, to the Raptors. In addition, New Orleans will send Indiana a 2024 second round pick.
Implications for the Teams
For the Indiana Pacers, the acquisition of Siakam represents a bold move to elevate their competitiveness in the Eastern Conference. Siakam’s ability to impact both ends of the floor could be a game-changer for the Pacers as they aim for a deeper playoff run.
On the other side, the Toronto Raptors continue to strip down their roster as they enter a rebuilding phase. In addition to parting ways with Siakam, Toronto also dealt star forward OG anunoby to the Knicks earlier this month.
Fan Reactions
As the news hit social media, Pacers fans were quick to share their excitment while some in the Toronto fanbase weren’t so thrilled.
Pacers offense somehow just got even more ridiculous than it already was
— Badown Badownović (@EdventureTime) January 17, 2024
The Pacers just traded a guy scoring 12.1 PPG for the #1 option on the Raptors who was scoring 22.2 PPG Adding that to Haliburton & Turner, I think the Pacers won this trade. Now the Raptors have 4 guards that have to fight for starting minutes Quickley, Barrett, Schroder & Brown https://t.co/PZ6Ya5xlpm
— Zaddi Odezy (@Odezydabeast) January 17, 2024
Conclusion
The Pacers will now need to turn their focus to convincing Siakam to re-sign and make Indiana his long-term home. In addition to that task, Indiana still could be active with Buddy Heild and his expiring contract still on the books. Stay tune Pacers fans, things are getting interesting in the Circle City.
Correction: Since the publishing of this article it has been corrected that Kira Lewis was traded to Indiana and then immediately sent to Toronto.