From https://nitter.net/wojespn:
BREAKING: The Indiana Pacers are finalizing a trade to acquire All-Star F Pascal Siakam in a deal that will send Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora and three first-round picks to the Toronto Raptors. New Orleans will be a third team in deal, sending Kira Lewis to the Raptors.
Indiana is sending two 2024 first-rounders and a 2026 first to the Raptors, sources said. New Orleans sends a second-round pick to Indiana.
The 2024 first-round picks will be Indiana’s own and the worst of Utah/Houston/Clippers/OKC, per sources.
The Pacers send their own 2026 first-rounder in deal, sources said.
The Pelicans will send a 2024 second-round pick to the Pacers in three-team deal, sources said.
As a Raptors fan, my initial reaction is one of disappointment. Pascal Siakam is one of the greatest all-time Raptors and these 3 first-round picks seem pretty paltry in comparison. Also, the return on the OG trade looks better than this one by comparison. At least we got something in return for Siakam leaving, unlike VanVleet and many others.
The OG trade looks like one of few smart moves that the Raptors front office has made since they won the championship in 2019. By all accounts they could have treated Siakam better in the last calendar year, and I wish they did. I’m happy for Siakam though, like OG he’s now on a much better team than the identity-less team we currently have in Toronto
Pascal isn’t under a long term deal, this isn’t bad really for that reason alone. Also, it depends how protected the firsts are?
I think the Pacers clearly won this trade. But I’d say it’s a bad trade from an internal Raptors asset management perspective. I think the Raptors front office should have given Siakam a max contract. Siakam fit the Barnes timeline. Win-now pieces like RJ and IQ fit the Barnes timeline. Will any of these mid to late first round picks contribute meaningfully to the Barnes timeline? How can the Raptors acquire a player comparable to Siakam to pair with Scottie after making this trade?