The Toronto Raptors appear to be taking a wait-and-see approach with Pascal Siakam, who on Monday responded to comments suggesting he played selfishly last season.
President Masai Ujiri confirmed to reporters that the team has not engaged in contract talks with Siakam. The 29-year-old is in the final year of his deal and is set to be a free agent at the end of the season.
Ujiri said he remains confident in the team's core and wants to see how they play in newly appointed head coach Darko Rajaković's system before offering new deals.
Ujiri says the decision also stems from his comments following the team's elimination from the play-in round against the Chicago Bulls when he called out players for playing selfishly.
"We do believe in Pascal. We do believe that a lot of our players didn't play the right way last year, and we want to see them play the right way," Ujiri explained. "I said that we were selfish. I'm not running away from that. We were selfish and we did not play the right way. So, let us see it when we play the right way."
Siakam believes he has always played the right way.
“I’ll speak for me, personally — I've never been a selfish player in my life, always played the game the right way, and that’s from the first time I started playing basketball,” Siakam said. “I’ve always been a team player. All the things that I do on the basketball court is about our team, and I’ve always done that my whole career.”
Siakam recalled early on in his career, when he didn’t have the attention on him in the offensive zone that he does now, and said he feels he has “always made the right basketball plays.”
“But I think that I’ve always played the game the right way, I don’t have any ounce of selfishness in me, and I just want to continue to do that, and I feel like I’ve always done that,” he continued.
“I’ve never really had coaches tell me that I wasn’t coachable, that I wasn’t listening or I wasn’t doing the right thing on the court — and when I did do that, then every time a coach told me not to do it, I kind of rectified it. That’s kind of why I’m here today anyway, as a player, just from learning from my mistakes and getting better. I don’t think I’ve ever been a selfish player.”
Siakam's name was mentioned in trade rumours during the off-season, with reports suggesting multiple teams were expressing interest in the two-time All-NBA player.
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