I Told You So: The story of how I was team KEEP SIAKAM

I was called a fool. Told I don’t know ball. Laughed at. WHO IS LAUGHING NOW? Not me, because I am crying.

On Tuesday night, Pascal Siakam scored 37 points for the Indiana Pacers to push them to a game two road victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. It was awesome, and it also sucked real hard.

Of course, good for Siakam. Be great 43. It only sucked because he was wearing a Pacers jersey and not a Raptors jersey. While it’s true he wouldn’t even be playing in the postseason if he was still a Raptor, and he definitely deserves to be there, it still stings.

While Siakam was being praised, all I could think of was how much I wanted him to stay a Toronto Raptor, up to the very second he was traded in January to the Indiana Pacers. The 37 points from game two and the 36 from game one only proved to me that everyone who said Siakam “didn’t fit” was being weird.

So, welcome to I Told You So: The story of how I was team KEEP SIAKAM

Sure, the team is building around Scottie Barnes, but why did that mean Siakam had to go? He’s a two-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA, a literal NBA champion, putting up fantastic numbers and only 30 years old.

He had chemistry with Scottie Barnes, was a great leader, and oh did I mention scored a combined 73 points in two playoff games?

Siakam’s short tenure so far with the Pacers has only proved the kind of role he could have played with the Raptors if they had kept him. The Pacers are also a young team with a lot of upside. They are building around Tyrese Haliburton. The same formula could have been used to keep Siakam in Toronto.

Especially after getting Immanuel Quickly and RJ Barrett into the mix. Think about the Quickley-Barrett-Barnes-Siakam-Poeltl lineup that could have been?

Yet, anytime I stated any of these facts in the weeks leading up to the Siakam trade, people were not happy. Many were okay with letting the only champion still remaining on the team go, while also getting virtually nothing back for him (no offence to Bruce Brown).

It felt like when you’d go to Canadian Tire in the 2000’s and give them real cash to pay for your items and the change they’d give you back was Canadian Tire Money. What am I supposed to do with this 20 cent bill? Wait seven years until I have $10 to buy something with all this random fake money? Is this even legal?

Sure, maybe Masai will end up getting something good in return for Brown in the long run, but for now the Siakam deal seems like... a load of garden manure purchased from Canadian Tire.**

**This post is not sponsored by Canadian Tire, but if they want they can give me free parking lot hot dogs for life for the promo.

So yeah, I sat on my couch watching Pascal Siakam score 37 points in the playoffs and wanted to yell I TOLD YOU SO at the zero people around me. It’s frustrating! We had him, he wanted to be a Raptor, he was good enough to throw the bag at! Yes, there was a risk of losing him in free agency... but was that risk worse than what we got in return?

The only good coming out of these playoffs for Raptors fans is seeing the calibre of talent around the NBA that OUR TEAM developed. Siakam being that guy for the Pacers, O.G. Anunoby impacting the Knicks, Lowry with the 76ers... but man, it hurts seeing everything that was once ours.

The solace comes when you think about what this franchise may be able to do with the current lot of players we do have. Barnes, Barrett and Quickley have promise, and if the team can surround them with hopefuls that may turn out to be the next Siakams or Anunobys or Lowrys... maybe the sting will hurt a little less.