3 Reasons why the Pascal Siakam trade was a massive win for Pacers

2. Minimal roster depth given up

The main reason why the Pascal Siakam trade to Indiana was such a plus for the Pacers is the sheer lack of depth given up for an All-NBA caliber player. As mentioned before, before the trade, it was seen as a downright guarantee that at least one Indiana youngster would be included in a potential Siakam trade.

Some Raptors fans were even confident they could squeeze two youngsters out of the front office. However, as reports ramped up and it became more clear that the deal would be centered around picks, the desperation from Raptors fans increased and quickly turned into delusion as they prayed for Indiana to cave and include a young player to make the deal happen faster.

Unfortunately for Raptors fans, this was not the case, and the deal was done with Bruce Brown and Jordan Nwora being the only players being sent to Toronto. Now, while Bruce Brown is a good player and was certainly valuable for Indiana, replacing him with Pascal Siakam is an absolute win that any team would do, even Brown's former Denver Nuggets team, where he is a folk hero.

Going into the second half of the season before the All-Star break, Indiana's rotation remains just about the same at the moment, with Bruce Brown being directly replaced by Pascal Siakam.

As for Jordan Nwora, while he is talented as a scorer and deserves a place in a team's rotation, that team was never going to be Indiana, and the flashes he showed as a scorer were quite few and far between as the past few games with Nwora in the rotation have been riddled with inconsistency and poor shot selection. As such, Nwora never had a steady place in a fully healthy Pacers rotation, even without Siakam.

To make things a bit easier to understand, imagine a historically great offense through 40 games. Now imagine taking a role player out and replacing him with an All-NBA level talent without removing anyone else. That is essentially what the Indiana Pacers did and that is what other teams are going to have to gameplan for.