Pascal Siakam

• 1. Introduction

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  Pascal Siakam made his professional debut in a Toronto Raptors uniform before he had ever watched an NBA game from a seat in the crowd. That debut, by his own account, was the first NBA game he had ever seen in person. Siakam was born on the 2nd of April 1994 in Cameroon, and he now plays for the Indiana Pacers under the nickname "Spicy P". In 2019 he helped the Toronto Raptors win their first NBA championship.

  How does someone with no background in the sport end up starting for a champion? What carried him from Cameroon to American gyms, and from a G League roster to some of the highest individual honors in professional basketball? The answers begin more than a decade before that debut, in a seminary far from any basketball court.

• 2. Leaving the Seminary

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  Pascal Siakam was born in Douala, Cameroon, to Tchamo and Victorie Siakam, the youngest of four brothers. His father worked for a local transit company and also served as mayor of Makénéné. According to a story by Jackie MacMullan of ESPN, Pascal was effectively "hand-picked to embody his family's Catholicism." At age 11, his father enrolled him in St. Andrew's Seminary in Bafia. By age 15, Siakam no longer wanted to become a Catholic priest.

  Unlike his three older brothers, all of whom earned basketball scholarships to NCAA Division I colleges, Siakam initially showed little interest in the sport. He was discovered at a local camp by Luc Mbah a Moute, whose parents' home in Bafia sat about 2 miles from St. Andrew's. Siakam first attended Mbah a Moute's camp in 2011, a year before graduating from St. Andrew's. He returned the following year and was then selected for the Basketball Without Borders camp. There, despite having had virtually no basketball experience, he gained attention for his athleticism and extremely high energy level. Raptors president Masai Ujiri, who was at that camp, later recalled: "His effort was memorable."

  At 18, with Mbah a Moute serving as mentor, Siakam moved to the United States. He went from camp to camp honing his skills before settling in Lewisville, Texas, to attend God's Academy. At this preparatory school, Siakam was neither widely known nor initially eligible to play, though New Mexico State pursued him anyway. Aggies coach Marvin Menzies had Siakam on his radar because his recruiting pipeline spanned several continents, and his roster already included nine foreign-born players.

  That recruitment would carry him onto the Aggies roster, though his first college season would not unfold the way either side expected.

• 3. Unanimous in New Mexico

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  Siakam enrolled at New Mexico State University in 2013, then sat out the entire 2013-14 season on a redshirt because of injury. He worked his way onto the Aggies' starting lineup the following year and earned Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year honors for the 2014-15 campaign.

  Across 34 games in the 2015-16 campaign, Siakam averaged 20.2 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.2 blocks a night. That performance earned him unanimous WAC Player of the Year honors.

  On the 19th of April 2016, Siakam declared for the NBA draft, giving up his final two years of college eligibility.

  Two months later, Toronto would make him a first-round pick, launching a professional path that started far from any spotlight.

• 4. Drafted, Demoted, Determined

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  On the 23rd of June 2016, the Toronto Raptors selected Siakam with the 27th overall pick in the NBA draft, signing him to a rookie-scale contract on the 9th of July. On the 26th of October, he became the first rookie to start the Raptors' season-opener since Jonas Valančiūnas in 2012. He grabbed 9 rebounds and scored 4 points in 21 minutes as Toronto beat the Detroit Pistons 109-91. Across his rookie season, Siakam started as many as 38 games at power forward, including the first 35 of the 2016-17 campaign, filling in for an injured Jared Sullinger.

  From the 21st of February through the 28th of April, the Raptors alternated Siakam between the main roster and their G League affiliate, the Raptors 905. Playing between his NBA appearances, he led the 905 to the G League finals, where the team beat the Rio Grande Valley Vipers 2-1 to win the title. He averaged 23 points and 9 rebounds across that series and was named G League Finals MVP.

  In his second NBA season, Siakam recorded a then-career-high 20 points during a 117-112 loss to the Golden State Warriors on the 25th of October 2017. With Siakam on the floor that season, Toronto's offensive rating improved by four points, compared to seven points worse during his rookie year. His per-game averages climbed from 4.3 points to 7.3, from 3.4 rebounds to 4.5, and from 0.3 assists to 2.0. Observers began comparing him to Golden State forward Draymond Green for his ability to guard multiple positions and his basketball knowledge.

  Those comparisons to Green would only grow louder the following season, when Siakam's role expanded well beyond the bench.

• 5. A Title and a Turnaround

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  Heading into the 2018-19 season, Siakam averaged 16.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists a game, while increasing his three-point shooting percentage by 36%. On the 10th of November 2018, he set a new career high with 23 points in a 128-112 win over the New York Knicks. He was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played 5 to the 11th of November, becoming the eighth Raptor in franchise history to earn that award.

  On the 13th of February 2019, Siakam scored a career-high 44 points and hit a career-best 4 three-pointers in a 129-120 win over the Washington Wizards, becoming the 11th Raptor to reach the 40-point plateau. In the Eastern Conference Finals, his 25 points and 11 rebounds in a double-overtime win over Milwaukee cut the Bucks' series lead to 2-1, and Toronto went on to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.

  In game 6 of the 2019 Finals, Siakam recorded a team-high 26 points and hit the shot that clinched the championship over Draymond Green, sealing Toronto's first NBA title in six games against Golden State. Later that month, he was named the NBA's Most Improved Player, becoming the first player to win that award and a championship in the same season. On the 19th of October 2019, Siakam signed a four-year, $130 million contract extension with Toronto.

  That extension tied him to Toronto for the seasons that followed, the ones in which he would first be asked to lead a team largely on his own.

• 6. Years of Firsts in Toronto

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  On the 23rd of January 2020, Siakam earned his first career All-Star selection, starting in the 2020 NBA All-Star Game and becoming the first player to have played in the G League and started an All-Star game. He capped the season by being named to the All-NBA Second Team on the 16th of September.

  On the 11th of January 2021, Siakam recorded his first career triple-double with 22 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. During the 2021-22 season, Siakam started games at both center and point guard. On the 7th of April 2022, he posted his third career triple-double, recording 37 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists. The performance prompted home fans to chant "MVP" during Toronto's win over Philadelphia. That season, he broke Chris Bosh's Raptors record of nine games with at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. On the 24th of May 2022, Siakam earned a second All-NBA selection, tying Vince Carter and DeMar DeRozan for the most All-NBA honors in franchise history.

  On the 21st of December 2022, Siakam scored a career-high 52 points in a 113-106 win over the New York Knicks, tied for the second-most points in a single game by a Raptors player. He was initially left off the All-Star roster despite averaging 25 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists a game, a first in league history. On the 10th of February 2023, he was named an All-Star for the second time, replacing an injured Kevin Durant as a reserve.

  On the 30th of December 2023, Siakam scored 35 points, but the Detroit Pistons rallied to beat Toronto 129-127, breaking their own 28-game losing streak, a mark tied for the longest in NBA history. By the time of his departure from the Raptors, Siakam was averaging 22.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists on the season.

  That departure sent him to the very team he had outscored just weeks earlier, in a 132-131 Toronto win over the Indiana Pacers that November.

• 7. New Colors, New Heights

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  On the 17th of January 2024, the Indiana Pacers acquired Siakam in a three-team trade, sending Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, Kira Lewis Jr. and three first-round picks away in the deal. Two days later, on the 19th of January, he made his Pacers debut, recording 21 points, six rebounds and three assists in a loss to Portland.

  In the Pacers' first-round playoff series, Siakam posted a then playoff career-high 36 points against Milwaukee, then topped it with 37 points in game 2. Indiana went on to beat the Knicks in seven games, reaching the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2014, before losing to the eventual champion Celtics in four games.

  On the 8th of July 2024, Siakam re-signed with Indiana on a four-year, $189.5 million contract. On the 30th of January 2025, he was named to the All-Star Game for a third time. He was later named Eastern Conference Finals MVP after averaging 24.8 points on 52.4% shooting from the field, helping the Pacers reach a second Eastern Conference Finals in a row and their first NBA Finals appearance since 2000. Indiana lost that series to the Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games.

  Following an injury absence by Tyrese Haliburton, Siakam became the primary initiator of Indiana's offense, with his usage rate and shot attempts increasing noticeably. On the 5th of December 2025, he scored a season-high 36 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a 120-105 win over the Chicago Bulls. On the 1st of February 2026, he was named to his fourth All-Star Game as an Eastern Conference reserve.

  Across his career, Siakam has become known for guarding positions 1 through 5, pairing rim protection with effective perimeter defense. He has also built a reputation as one of the league's most effective transition players since early in his career.

  None of that on-court range traces to a childhood spent around basketball gyms. It traces back to a family that expected something else of him entirely.

• 8. Off the Court

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  In October 2014, Siakam's father Tchamo died in a car crash. Siakam could not attend the funeral because he was waiting on the issuance of a new U.S. visa.

  Boris, Christian and James, Siakam's three older brothers, all played NCAA Division I basketball, at Western Kentucky, IUPUI and Vanderbilt respectively.

  On the 14th of February 2023, Siakam and McDonald's Canada launched a limited-edition McFlurry named the Siakam Swirl, inspired by his signature spin move and made with vanilla soft serve, hot fudge and crushed red Smarties in Raptors team colours. The treat was sold exclusively in Canada.

  Siakam also partnered with the University of New Brunswick to establish the Pascal Siakam Scholarship, funding UNB students from Cameroon who study in technology-based programs. In September 2025, the university awarded him an honorary doctorate.

  Those numbers keep climbing. Siakam has now appeared in 691 NBA games, averaging 18.5 points a night, and at Indiana his role keeps expanding season by season.