Pascal Siakam is Poised for a Bounce-Back Season in 2021

Toronto Raptors former All-Star Pascal Siakam should be in better shape when next season rolls around following his bout with COVID-19

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

If Masai Ujiri is right, and he usually is, Pascal Siakam is poised for a big 2021-22 season.

It's been almost two years since the Toronto Raptors' 27-year-old forward looked like one of the top 15 or so players in the NBA. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Siakam was blossoming into one of the league's best players. He was averaging 23.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.6 assists and earned NBA All-Star and eventually second-team All-NBA recognition. 

Then, the world shut down.

Siakam was stuck in his Toronto apartment with nowhere to go for the better part of Spring 2020. He said he went approximately three months without playing basketball

“I feel like I lost track of time as soon as I got into quarantine,” Siakam said prior to the NBA's Bubble return in July 2020. 

It was clear when he returned that something wasn't right. The once spry Siakam looked hesitant in the playoffs. He wasn't attacking the rim the way he had earlier in the year and, after an unimpressive conclusion to the regular season, his playoffs were disappointing. His scoring dropped to 17 points per game while his field goal shooting fell below 40%.

While 2020-21 came with newfound hope, Siakam still hadn't found his way back to his pre-pandemic self. He struggled to start the season compared to his former self, averaging just 20.1 points per game through Toronto's first 33 games.

Then, in late February 2021, Siakam contracted COVID-19. While he didn't want to get into specifics about the virus, he said he lost 10 to 15 points and was feeling much better physically after his recovery.

Somehow, Siakam came back lighter, faster, and better than he was before. It was only after he contracted COVID and lost all that weight, Ujiri said, that Siakam realized he hadn't been in adequate game shape. 

After his bout with COVID, Siakam's scoring jumps almost three points per game, his field goal percentage ticks up slightly, and his free-throws per game jumps by almost one.

This season, there are no excuses for Siakam. His recovery from shoulder surgery, I'm told, is going well and he's physically getting back to the basketball player he used to be. When he does come back from his surgery a month or so into the season, he should be back to the kind of player he was before the pandemic hit, a multi-skilled rim-running forward who showed off the kind of skills that made him one of the most exciting young players in the NBA.

Further Reading

Vegas oddsmakers aren't taking kindly to Raptors players in preseason award odds

Raptors to open the season at home on October 20 with Kyle Lowry's return slated for February

Masai Ujiri Is committed to Toronto and paving a new path back to the NBA mountaintop