NBA Insider Reveals One Player Likely Off Limits in Pascal Siakam Trade Talks
Jarace Walker is almost untouchable in trade talks with the Indiana Pacers.
Indiana is said to be “very very determined not to include” the rookie first-round pick in any deal ahead of the trade deadline and is unlikely to move Walker in a deal with the Toronto Raptors for Pascal Siakam, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Threads on Wednesday.
“Indiana is very high on him as are other teams, of course,” Wojnarowski wrote.
The 6-foot-8 Walker was the eighth pick in the draft this past summer and while he hasn’t done much at the NBA level, he’s been putting up impressive numbers in the G League this season. He’s averaging 25.1 points with 3.2 assists and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 45% from three-point range across 10 G League games.
Indiana has been among the teams most often connected to Siakam in trade chatter. It’s unclear what the Pacers would be willing to offer Toronto, but it would likely have to be a deal involving Buddy Hield as matching salary with at least one or two additional players.
The Pacers could try to pursue Siakam in free agency this summer, but that would require Indiana to renounce its Bird Rights and waive multiple rotation players. It might instead be in the Pacers' best interest to try to work out a deal with Toronto for Siakam to acquire his Bird Rights ahead of the offseason. That would allow Indiana to go above the salary cap to re-sign the two-time All-Star forward.
A deal involving Hield, Obi Toppin, and one of Walker, Bennedict Mathurin, or Aaron Nesmith could theoretically work while allowing the Pacers to remain under the luxury tax with Siakam under contract for next season. It's unclear if Toronto would be interested in a package like that.
Siakam is on an expiring contract and his willingness to re-sign with Indiana would likely have a significant impact on the Pacers’ willingness to trade with Toronto.
