Raptors Have Traded Pascal Siakam: What Now?

The Toronto Raptors have traded Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers. Here's what's next for the organization moving forward

The Toronto Raptors have turned the page.

The final key piece of the 2019 championship team has been traded with the organizations sending Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers for three first-round picks, Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, and Kira Lewis from the New Orleans Pelicans, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. It marks the second blockbuster deal the Raptors have made this season after sending OG Anunoby to the New York Knicks in December.

Now what?

Cap Space

If Toronto declines Brown's team option this summer or trades him for expiring contract and renounces the rights to Nwora and Lewis, the Raptors could create over $30 million in cap space. That's not quite enough to go after a max contract player, but it's enough to sign a pretty solid rotation player.

Malik Monk, for example, is the type of player Toronto could go after in free agency if that cap space is used. It's not a great free agency class, but there are a few players who could be of interest to Toronto.

If the Raptors can trade Chris Boucher and Jalen McDaniels, it's possible Toronto could open up even more cap space and create a max contract slot if the organization wanted to.

Draft Picks

Toronto now has at least three picks in this year's draft including Indiana's first-round pick, a pick from likely Oklahoma City or the Los Angeles Clippers, whichever is less valuable, and Detroit's second-round pick which will be early in the second round. 

The first-round pick of interest will be Toronto's which is top-six protected and owed to the San Antonio Spurs as part of the Jakob Poeltl trade. It's unlikely the Raptors fall much further down the standings this year despite this trade considering how bad Washington, Detroit, San Antonio, Charlotte, and Portland are this season. That means Toronto has at best about a 45.8% chance to keep its 2024 first-round pick if the Raptors do have the sixth-worst record in the NBA. That number falls to 31.9% if Toronto is the seventh-worst team in the league this season.

More Trades

The names to keep an eye on now are Brown and Gary Trent Jr.

Trent isn't likely to have very much trade value but he is on an expiring contract and it's possible Toronto will look to deal him ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline next month. His name, however, has yet to come up in trade rumors.

Brown, 27, is just a year removed from helping the Denver Nuggets in a championship and should be a somewhat coveted asset for a team trying to make a playoff push.