Underestimate Pascal Siakam At Your Own Risk

Indiana made a massive trade in the winter of 2024, when they acquired the 2019 NBA Champion from the city of Toronto, and rode the cape of his championship experience to the Eastern Conference Finals, in what was many of the players first real playoff experience. They took that unexpected ride into the next season, and made it all the way to Game 7 of the NBA Finals, with Tyrese Haliburton as the face of the franchise.

As amazing as Haliburton's 2025 playoff run was, he isn't able to reach those heights without the exceptional play of Pascal Siakam. Indiana leaned heavily on the offensive capabilities of Siakam, as he is the team's best one-on-one scorer. But it wasn't just the offense, it was the incredible defense that he displayed all playoff run long.

Siakam drew the primary matchup with the former Most Valuable Player of the league, Giannis in Round 1. Then was asked to guard one of the best up-and-coming two-way big men in Evan Mobley in Round 2. He followed that up by guarding OG Anunoby for parts of the Conference Finals, but had to switch to primarily defending Karl Anthony-Towns after Myles Turner consistently struggled to stop him. Then in the NBA Finals, Siakam had to guard Chet Holmgren when the Thunder went big, and because Nesmith struggled with the size of Jalen Williams, he was tasked with guarding him on multiple occasions.

Pascal did all of this while mostly being the number one option on offense every single night (while sharing the bulk of that responsibility with Tyrese Haliburton). Last season without Haliburton, Siakam had even more responsibility, and had one of his best statistical seasons. That was good enough to land him a spot in the 2026 NBA All-Star game -- thanks to the coaches who voted him in-- despite the Pacers poor record.

Forwards in the NBA in 2024-25 Playoffs

Out of all the starting forwards in the 2024-25 NBA Playoffs, Siakam ranked 9th overall in defensive rating, 13th overall in offensive rating, and 9th overall in net rating. During the 23 game postseason run, Siakam shot 51.3% from the field, 42.7% from three, and 71.3% from the free throw line. He added 6.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game.

For starting forwards in the 2024-25 NBA Playoffs who averaged 10 or more field goal attempts per game, only five players had a better net rating than Siakam: Jayson Tatum, Chet Holmgren, Jaylen Brown, Jalen Williams, and Jaden McDaniels. He impacted winning at the highest level, while carrying a massive load for a team that many deemed less talented than most of their opponents.

In the Pacers first series against Milwaukee, Giannis was the most talented player. Against the Cavaliers in round two, it was Donovan Mitchell. In the East Finals, Jalen Brunson was viewed as the best player. And lastly, SGA was the best player in the NBA Finals, but many ranked Williams and Holmgren higher than him.

Siakam was always viewed as the underdog when looking at the "star matchup", but he won three series against all of his Eastern Conference foes, and was 24 minutes away from taking down the league's best team, best defense, and MVP. Indiana consistently ran their offense through Siakam as the No. 1 option on their team, but none of these other number ones were asked to carry the load on the defensive side of things, which reemphasizes my point on how special he truly is.

Siakam's Journey to Where He is Today

Ten years ago, Siakam was selected as the 27th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. Coming into the draft, he was drawing comparisons of a Luc Mbah a Moute and Jordan Mickey. No disrespect to those players, but the bar was set incredibly low for a raw talent that had a ton of defensive upside to his game, but no offensive juice.

Siakam was sent to the G-League in his rookie season where he helped the Toronto 905 win a D-League Championship and was named the Finals MVP. In his third season, he found himself starting alongside one of the best wings in the NBA, Kawhi Leonard. That year he won the NBA's Most Improved Player of the Year award and helped Toronto win their first ever championship.

After a handful of successful seasons with Toronto, he was traded to the Pacers and has blossomed into the most respected leader on the team after two deep playoff runs. His NBA journey has been all about hard work and daily dedication to perfecting your craft. And while his path to success has been unique, it's a great example of how he turned himself into one of the best players in the league.

Final Thoughts

At age 32, Siakam will once again be underrated by the national media. He's never going to be looked at as a top-twenty talent, but that just adds more fuel to his fire. There's a reason why Rick Carlisle told Draymond Green in a podcast interview that Siakam is a great player. And personally, I think the opinion of someone who's been in the NBA for 42 years holds more weight.

I conclude this article by saying this: underestimate Pascal Siakam at your own risk. He's better than you think he is, and if the Pacers find themselves back among the East's elite this season, don't be surprised when Siakam is one of the biggest reasons why.