A report this week indicated that the Raptors and Pascal Siakam‘s representatives have engaged in preliminary discussions about a potential rookie scale contract extension. Speaking Saturday to reporters, president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri confirmed that there have been conversations between the two sides and expressed no doubt that a deal will get done either by the Oct. 21 deadline or during the 2020 offseason, when Siakam would be a restricted free agent.
“We’ve had conversations with Pascal’s representation,” Ujiri said (video link via Sportsnet.ca). “We’re excited. Whether it’s going to be this fall or whether it’s going to be in the summer, he’s somebody we’re definitely going to keep for a long time here.”
It remains to be seen what sort of price the Raptors will have to pay to lock up Siakam long-term, or whether they’ll end up waiting until the summer of 2020. The NBA’s reigning Most Improved Player said that he’ll leave the negotiations up to his agents, but he’s looking forward to being a Raptor for the foreseeable future.
“I love Toronto,” Siakam told Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter link). “I love being here and I’m definitely hopeful we can get it done.”
Here’s more out of Toronto:
- Siakam isn’t the only extension candidate in Toronto. Kyle Lowry confirmed at Media Day that his people have talked to the Raptors about a new deal, adding that he’s not worried about his upcoming free agency, tweets Eric Koreen of The Athletic. The veteran point guard said his contract situation is an “ongoing conversation,” tweets Blake Murphy of The Athletic.
- As Murphy writes in his full round-up of Raptors Media Day, Ujiri admitted that the team will likely treat Lowry’s upcoming free agency a little differently than it would for other veterans on expiring contracts, given the veteran guard’s legacy status with the franchise. Murphy suggests “it sure sounds like” Toronto wants to retain Lowry beyond 2019-20.
- Serge Ibaka said that he gave Kawhi Leonard space to go through free agency without trying to influence his decision, tweets Lewenberg. “After he made his decision, we spoke on the phone,” Ibaka said. “I said, ‘You know what bro, I’m a little sad you’re leaving us, it’s disappointing as a friend, but I’m happy for you.’”
- OG Anunoby, who received praise from Ujiri and head coach Nick Nurse on Saturday, isn’t lacking any confidence in the Raptors’ ceiling even with Kawhi no longer on the roster, as Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun tweets. “I think we’re gonna repeat,” Anunoby said. “We have a really good team and we believe in ourselves, and that’s all that matters.”
- Some of Anunoby’s teammates expressed their confidence a little more cautiously. “I think it’s a very hungry team,” Marc Gasol said, per Lewenberg. “We all understand what Kawhi meant to the team and how well he played in the playoffs. But we also understand how good we can be as a team. So we are going to invest everything needed to be that team.”
- Anunoby also said that he didn’t get his energy back until mid-July after undergoing an appendectomy last spring and said that winning the starting small forward job will be a priority for him this fall (Twitter
links via Lewenberg).
