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Pascal Siakam and the Indiana Pacers are locked in a tight second-round Eastern Conference playoff series with the New York Knicks, but a Washington Wizards rookie is unimpressed with Siakam.
Last month, Wizards wing Bilal Couilbaly called Siakam the NBA’s most overrated player in a French-language interview with RMC Sports. Now, Coulibaly has now doubled down on his statement.
Well, kind of.
Coulibaly doesn’t necessarily think Siakam is overrated, but he does think he is very predictable.
“I stand by that,” Coulibaly said on The Run It Back podcast when asked about his comments. “I just said that, nah he was not overrated, but they were asking me who was the easiest superstar to guard, and I was like Pascal. I watched the films and I knew what he was about to do, when he was going left or spinning around going right, so I was like yeah he’s the easiest superstar to guard.”
So Coulibaly is essentially saying that Siakam is not very versatile offensively and doesn’t have a whole lot in his bag.
Ironically enough, Coulibaly was actually selected by the Pacers with the seventh overall pick of the NBA Draft last summer, but was then immediately traded to the Wizards as part of a three-team deal.
The 19-year-old appears to be one of the top up and coming defenders in the NBA and is coming off of a solid rookie campaign in which he averaged 8.4 points and 4.1 rebounds over 27.2 minutes per game. He shot 43.5 percent from the floor, 34.6 percent from three-point range and 70.2 percent from the free-throw line.
Is Pascal Siakam an elite player?
Siakam is good. Really good. But is he elite?
Here’s the thing about Siakam: he is probably not a No. 1 option on a legitimate title contender, but he has already proven that he can be a No. 2. Remember: he played Robin to Kawhi Leonard’s Batman when the Toronto Raptors won the NBA championship in 2019.
This season, Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton were essentially 1A and 1B for Indiana, but you kind of get the feeling that Haliburton is surpassing him as the top gun offensively.
Siakam actually began the 2023-24 campaign with the Raptors, but was traded to the Pacers midway through the season when it became clear that Toronto was no longer contending. On the season overall, he averaged 21.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while shooting 53.6 percent from the field, 34.6 percent from distance and 73.2 percent from the charity stripe.
Given that he is a lifetime 33 percent three-point shooter, Siakam’s offensive repertoire is somewhat limited. Teams would much rather sag and allow him to shoot a triple rather than let him get to the basket. That’s not to say that Siakam can’t shoot from three; he can. But, he is actually average to below average from the perimeter, which absolutely hurts his game overall.
The 30-year-old is a two-time All-Star, but he has never really been a serious MVP candidate.
But in fairness to Siakam, not many people consider him an actual superstar, so it may not be right to call him “overrated.” At this point, he is what he is: a very good two-way player who should be a welcome addition to any NBA roster.
More must-reads:
- Three stars from Monday’s NBA playoffs
- Derrick White makes unique history in Eastern Conference Finals
- The 'Most three-pointers made in the playoffs' quiz
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