Pacers Report Cards: Grading every Pacers player through the All-Star break
By Mueez Azfar
Pascal Siakam
Stats with IND: 16 Games, 33.3 MPG, 21.4 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 4.8 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 1.7 TOV, 2.9 FPG 57.1/41.3/62.3 Splits on 62.2% TS
Admittedly, there's not much to go off of here, but there's definitely enough. Don't let the 7-8 record since the trade fool you; Pascal Siakam is everything he was advertised as and much more. The trade for Siakam has the potential to be up there with the Haliburton/Sabonis trade as one of the most talked-about trades in recent memory, and for potentially the same reason.
Since getting traded to Indiana, Siakam has filled the exact role that the Pacers needed: a secondary scorer, tough shot maker, secondary ball handler, and sound defender to help Indiana's bottom line.
Siakam has gotten the scoring part of that down so far, averaging 21.4 points on very solid efficiency and even 41.3% from beyond the arc, a nice surprise considering he only shot 31.7% with Toronto before the trade. Of course, the additional spacing has definitely helped, as has playing with Tyrese Haliburton.
Siakam has also provided excellent injury insurance for Haliburton, as he increases the Pacers offensive rating by 20 points and their net rating by almost 21 points when he is on the floor compared to being off it. Siakam also makes the Pacers a much more efficient team, as their 2-point field goal percentage increases by three points and their three-point percentage increases by a whopping 16 points.
While we haven't seen Haliburton and Siakam on the floor together much, with them only logging 226 minutes together, they have been more than effective in that time. In their short time together, Haliburton and Siakam give the Pacers a positive net rating of 7.41, an offensive rating of 126.36, and much-improved efficiency compared to when they are not on the floor together.
This is a fantastic sign for the rest of the season, as most of those minutes together are hampered by Haliburton's injury still bothering him and Siakam still getting used to the team. With plenty of full practices under their belt and Haliburton reinvigorated after a successful All-Star Weekend, the sky is the limit for what Siakam can do with this team.