Pacers GM Chad Buchanan On Re-Signing Siakam, More!
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The season is over for the Indiana Pacers, and now an important offseason awaits.
Will they re-sign Pascal Siakam? Will they make another trade, or attempt to add another big name to the roster? What will they do to improve their defense and rebounding? How can they get back to the Eastern Conference Finals, and this time, not squander late-game leads?
During Wednesday’s edition of The Ride With JMV, Pacers GM Chad Buchanan joined the show. Chad talks to John about the Pacers desire to re-sign Siakam.
“Well, when we made the trade for him the intention was to have him here long-term, and that’s still our goal. I think he had a great experience here playing with us, we loved having him on the team. It’s a great fit basketball-wise, the team really embraced him, I think he loves the fans here, loves the passion for basketball. At his core, he just loves basketball. He’s a very simple guy, and he figured out pretty quickly what Pacer fans and Hoosier fans are about. He loves playing here, and hopefully it’s a long-term partnership for us, and it’s not a long, drawn out process this summer.”
There has been some chatter about Siakam, who turned 30 this year, and if the Pacers should be worried about extending him due to his age. Chad addressed those concerns.
“Age is a part of it, minutes played is really a bigger part of it, because that’s more reflective of the load on the body. He’s actually played fewer NBA minutes…than Karl-Anthony Towns and Nikola Jokic, some guys that are actually younger than him that have played more minutes…You get into the mid-to-late 30’s then there’s a little more concern of the body, how it holds up over an 82 game schedule, but Pascal does a great job of keeping himself in shape. He’s very vigilante about his body, what he eats, and has been a very durable player throughout his career. It is something you factor in a little bit, but I don’t think he’s at that age where you’re super concerned about it.”
The Pacers young core did a lot of growing this season; while the Pacers are certainly open to adding more pieces, Chad indicated he would be alright with running it back with this group.
“Overall, this group had a great, great connection. The locker room was phenomenal, everybody got along, everybody embraced their role. Our coaches really figured out a way to maximize and develop some of these young guys, and I think they want to continue to do that.”
You can listen to JMV’s full conversation with Pacers GM Chad Buchanan down below, and tune into The Ride With JMV weekdays from 3-6pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan!
