Woj: Pascal Siakam sought trade to Pacers because of Tyrese Haliburton

Former Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam was hoping for a trade to the Indiana Pacers for the chance to play alongside point guard Tyrese Haliburton, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Haliburton has other players around the NBA longing to play for the Pacers, too.

Siakam, of course, got his wish, as the Pacers sent Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora and three first-round picks to Toronto. Brown played his first game with the Raptors on Thursday night. Siakam will suit up for the Pacers soon.

Siakam, 29, is averaging 22.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists this season, shooting 52 percent from the field and 32 percent on 3-pointers. He is making $37.9 million in the final year of his contract.

Pairing him with the likes of guard Tyrese Haliburton, center Myles Turner and others could help push Indiana to new heights.

“I would say this. The future is bright because it’s a perfect fit,” Siakam’s agent, Todd Ramasar, told Mark Medina. “It’s a perfect marriage for Pascal based on some of the things that I touched on. Everything I described about the organization, from ownership to the front office to the coaching staff and to player personnel, is representative of Pascal. There is that through line where everything is about ‘team’ and ‘winning.’ In winning, it’s also about having humility and competitiveness. Those are all the right attributes that you want in an organization down to the individuals that leads to something special in the future.”

Haliburton, 23, is averaging 23.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and a league-leading 12.5 assists, shooting about 50 percent from the field, and 40 percent on 3-pointers. The 23-year-old is first in the NBA in assists per game and second in total assists.

Players around the league are now circling the Pacers as a desirable future destination because of Tyrese Haliburton, per @wojespn (https://t.co/mV9JlUKpXz):

“They look at how much fun it is to play there. How much fun (Haliburton) is to play with. How unselfish he is. And it… pic.twitter.com/XySvY86g3L

— Evan Sidery (@esidery) January 18, 2024