Pascal Siakam Refound Joy After Mentally, Physically Draining COVID-19 Playoffs

Toronto Raptors star Pascal Siakam refound himself after struggling in the NBA playoffs last season

Pascal Siakam has grown accustomed to hearing all about what he can't do.

It doesn't matter that the Toronto Raptors star has defied expectations his whole life or that every time he's been questioned, he's seemingly bounced back better than before. It didn't matter that he went from the NBA's Most Improved Player in 2018-19, averaging 16.9 points per game, to an All-NBA player and borderline superstar last season. Instead, the moment he began to struggle in the NBA's Orlando Bubble last summer, people pressed the panic button, and questions were raised again.

But unlike Kyle Lowry who feeds off the anger of a thousand suns, Siakam doesn't care about what his doubters say.

"I think we all deal with things differently and for me, if I listened to people I would never be where I am today," he said Thursday during his Zoom media availability from Tampa. "I never listened to that and I’m not going to start today."

That doesn't mean Siakam didn't recognize his struggles in the playoffs. It was clear to everyone that he wasn't himself when the NBA returned after the COVID-19 hiatus. But for all the pain Raptors fans felt watching him regress in the playoffs, Siakam felt that tenfold.

"The fact that we didn’t win obviously and then also the fact that I didn’t play the way I wanted to. I don’t think anybody could be more disappointed than I was," he said.

Now let's not forget how unusual the ending to last season was. It's easy to think of these superhuman athletes as basketball robots or video game characters, but they're not. The COVID-19 pandemic affected them too and for Siakam it was tough. 

"I mean the world is crazy right now. I mean there's so many different things that we all have to deal with as individuals, and I think it was no different for me," he said. "I didn't feel like I was where I wanted to be physically and mentally."

He said when he got home during the offseason he went back and watched those games and could hardly recognize himself. For years he was the energetic floor-runner who would whizz up and down the court for buckets. Then suddenly, the joy was gone. 

For Siakam, finding that joy was what this year's truncated offseason was all about. He wanted to surround himself with the right people and focus on himself. 

Now, at 26 years old, Siakam is entering the prime of his career. This season will mark his first on the four-year, $130 max contract extension he signed in October 2019, and with that will come higher expectations.

It'll undoubtedly be tough to improve on his 2019-20 season. Going from an All-NBA player to a truly elite, top-tier NBA superstar is the hardest jump to make in the NBA and it's unlikely Siakam will ever actually make it there. But at this point, only a fool would truly count him out.