The Pacers’ Pascal Siakam trade made their dream NBA Playoffs run possible

The Indiana Pacers were a wonderful story and a thrilling watch, but they also felt a little bit like a gimmick. Indiana was off to a blazing start to the 2023-2024 season, cranking up the tempo and scoring at will as young point guard Tyrese Haliburton began to emerge as a star. The Pacers were posting the best offensive efficiency rating in league history as the calendar turned to Jan. 2024, but they were still stuck in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference playoff standings because they had no size and one of the league’s worst defenses.

The Toronto Raptors were at the opposite end of their team-building spectrum. Toronto had won the 2019 NBA championship, but their era of contention ended when Kawhi Leonard packed his bags for the Los Angeles Clippers in free agency. Toronto still had plenty of good players on the roster, but they had no shooting and no shot-creation after letting Fred VanVleet walk to the Houston Rockets, and it was producing a team playing at a tanking level.

The Pacers and Raptors agreed to a deal that made sense for both sides shortly after the new year. Siakam was shipped to Indiana for a package that included two first-round picks in the 2024 NBA Draft, as well the Pacers’ 2026 first-round pick. Bruce Brown was the best player who went to Toronto to help match the salaries. At the time, we gave both teams an A- for the deal. Fast forward 16 months, and only one of these sides has materialized as the clear winner.

The Indiana Pacers are on the doorstep of the 2025 NBA Finals after taking a 2-0 lead over the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals with both wins at Madison Square Garden. The Pacers’ historic Game 1 comeback will be remembered forever, but their Game 2 victory offered even more evidence of how far Indy has come since the Siakam trade.

Siakam painted a masterpiece in Game 2, putting up his highest scoring effort of the season to carry Indiana to a win on a night when Haliburton couldn’t get his own scoring going. Siakam finished with 39 points on 15-of-23 shooting while adding five rebounds and three assists. He scored in a variety of ways, and the Knicks had no answer for him. It was a performance that showed all the ways the Siakam trade fixed Indiana’s structural problems and made this potential NBA Finals run possible.

The Pacers were 23-17 overall and 7th in the East on the day they made the Siakam deal. Indiana was still very early in what it hoped would be a contention window around Haliburton, and there were plenty of reasons to hold off on swinging a big trade. Was this trade really going to put the Pacers over the top in the East? The Boston Celtics were looking like a juggernaut, the Philadelphia 76ers were rolling with Joel Embiid playing at an MVP level, and the Milwaukee Bucks were just getting started with Damian Lillard next to Giannis Antetokounmpo. Even if the Pacers thought Siakam was a good on-court fit, they would still have to reward him with a huge contract (that came in around four years, $190 million) as he turned entered his 30s.

The Pacers weren’t worried about any of that. They identified Siakam as someone who fix multiple problems with the team in one fell swoop, and they weren’t scared to try to compete with the top teams in the East.

Getting Siakam gave Indiana a huge boost in size, adding a 6’8, 245-pound forward with a 7’3 wingspan next to Myles Turner in the front court. Siakam also gave the Pacers a secondary offensive creator who could act as the changeup to Indiana’s run-and-gun fastball led by Haliburton. Siakam was still a good fit in Indiana’s uptempo offense that hunted transition opportunities, but when the game slowed down he could also provide a pinch of one-on-one scoring as a big forward with an advanced handle who slither his way into points in the paint.

Indiana’s offense dipped a bit after the Siakam trade, but their defense took a little leap. The Pacers caught a few breaks as they entered the 2024 playoffs when Giannis was injured in their series with the Bucks, and then the Knicks’ entire roster broke down physically in their second round matchup. Indiana made the conference finals and gave the Celtics their toughest series on Boston’s way to a championship.

It was easy to view Indiana’s conference finals run last year as a fluke, but in reality it was just the start of the team proving it could contend at a real level. This season with Siakam in tow all year, the Pacers were a more balanced team, finishing No. 9 in offense and No. 14 in defense.

The Pacers caught some breaks in the playoffs again. Lillard was limited in their first-round series against the Bucks after missing the end of the season with a blood clot, and when he returned he tore his Achilles. The Cleveland Cavaliers looked like a strong favorite against the Pacers in round two, but Darius Garland sprained his big toe, Evan Mobley hurt his ankle, and suddenly Cleveland wasn’t in peak form. The Pacers ran them off the floor, and left no doubt they were better than the 64-win top seed in the process. The Celtics were supposed to be the favorites in the East, but any hope they had of coming back against the Knicks died when Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles. The East opened up for Indy, and they’ve taken full advantage.

Siakam was fantastic all year for Indiana. He scored an efficient 20 points per game, avoided turnovers, and consistently found kick outs to Indiana’s shooters when his driving lanes were cut off. He earned the third All-Star appearance of his career, and he deserved it with a +10.3 net-rating swing when he was on the court. Just look at these numbers:

Indiana put some skin in the game with the Siakam deal, trading three first-round picks and adding a huge salary to the cap sheet. It was a risk, but there’s no doubt it paid off big-time. At this point, it doesn’t feel like Indiana gave up all that much for Siakam.

The trade hasn’t worked out well for the Raptors. Here’s Toronto’s haul from the Siakam trade a couple years ago:

• Brandon Ingram (acquired with the Pacers’ 2026 first-round pick)
• Ochai Agbaji (acquired with a pick Toronto flipped from the Siakam trade)
• Ja’Kobe Walter (selected with the Pacers’ original 2024 first-rounder)
• Jamal Shead (drafted in the second round from spare parts of the Siakam trade)

The Raptors should have been set up well for a rebuild as they sought to move off Siakam, OG Anunoby, and VanVleet. Instead, they lost VanVleet for nothing, traded Anunoby for underwhelming young players (RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley) instead of a haul of picks, and failed to land premium assets for Siakam even though “three first-round picks” looks good on paper.

The Siakam trade made the Pacers a more balanced team with a more diverse offensive attack. Now Indiana’s grand vision from the move is playing out on the biggest stage in the sport. The Pacers’ conference finals run was no fluke a year ago, and team is even better this season. It all started with the leap of faith to pull the trigger on a deal for Siakam.