Pascal Siakam Finally Became 'The Guy' for the Raptors, but with Scottie Barnes Coming, How Long Will it Last?

The Toronto Raptors saw Pascal Siakam become The Guy last year, but with Scottie Barnes' season showed a transition may be coming sooner than anticipated

Aaron Rose | May 13, 2022

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Pascal Siakam came into this past season finally feeling comfortable.

With Kyle Lowry off to Miami, there was no confusion regarding who The Guy was for the Toronto Raptors. For the first time in Siakam's career, the Raptors were now his team. He’d signed the max contract and after years of trying to navigate who the top dog was alongside the greatest player in franchise history, Siakam’s opportunity had come.

But the page may be turning faster than anyone had anticipated.

Scottie Barnes is coming. No, he wasn’t the best player on the team this past season and likely won’t be next year, but if everything goes as planned, the Raptors are eventually going to be Barnes’ team. How they navigate that handover will be the most important question this organization faces in the coming seasons.

“I think that’s probably our biggest, my biggest thing on our agenda is to figure out how do these pieces work together,” said Fred VanVleet during his season-ending media availability.

Too much high-end talent is a good problem to have in the NBA. If Barnes becomes a superstar and pushes Siakam to be The Guy, Toronto isn’t going to complain. It’s what the Raptors hoped for when they selected him fourth overall in the 2021 Draft and what made his Rookie of the Year campaign so tantalizing.

There will, however, have to be sacrifices made.

“You look on every championship team there's probably a guy on the bench that could have started, there’s probably a guy in the top seven that could have averaged 20 points and that's what winning a championship is about,” VanVleet said. “It's not necessarily my job to say who sacrifices what. I think that's something that's going to naturally happen as we get back together, and we put together our team again, but something that for sure we’re going to have to deal with going forward.”

For Siakam, it’s going to be a learning process. It’s something he admitted to struggling with in the past couple of seasons alongside Lowry, as he told The New York Times prior to this past year. There was a lack of communication with the front office, Siakam said, as to how the pecking order worked alongside Lowry and who exactly was The Guy.

When Lowry did eventually leave, Siakam saw his game reach a new level. He stepped into the void left by the iconic point guard, just as he did when Kawhi Leonard departed, and felt more at ease in his role on the team.

“I think my game has evolved a lot and I do feel confident with the offense running through me and being able to make decisions,” Siakam said during his season-ending media availability. “I’m OK with how that’s going.”

Eventually, though, that may change. As with every successful team, someone is going to have to take a backseat and accept a role he might not be entirely comfortable with. Who that is, when that is, and how that transition goes will dictate how successful this next era of Raptors basketball eventually becomes.

“I’m not concerned at all,” VanVleet said. “I think it'll be an easy transition, but it will be something to think about for sure.”

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