Source: Steven Ryan / Getty
The Indiana Pacers and Pascal Siakam have agreed toa four-year contract extension worth $189.5 million dollars, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal will become official when the NBA’s free agent moratorium ends on July 6 and will keep Siakam in a Pacers uniform until he is 34 years old.
ESPN Sources: All-NBA forward Pascal Siakam intends to sign a new four-year, $189.5 million maximum contract to return to the Indiana Pacers. Siakam plans to sign deal once league’s free agency moratorium ends on July 6. pic.twitter.com/Klz10dQv9a
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 19, 2024
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This looks like a win-win for both sides and probably why it was able to get done so quickly after the NBA Finals wrapped. Siakam gets the bag and sticks with a team that made the Eastern Conference Finals while the Pacers lock up the player they landed in a blockbuster deal to pair with Tyrese Haliburton and on top of that, don’t have the fifth-year attached that could have ballooned the extension to $245-million dollars.
Siakam struggled at times this season, including the postseason, but provided a scoring alternative when Haliburton was banged up and also provides a veteran leadership in a young locker room that includes a lot of postseason experience. Siakam averaged 21.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game with the Pacers but it may be what he said in the aftermath of the Eastern Conference Finals sweep that was the most impactful.
“It’s easy to say after the season we’ll get back to it but it’s not guaranteed. I know that first-hand. I feel encouraged but it’s a lot of work. We’ve got to get better as a team, as an organization. And if you want to get to that level, it takes a lot. I feel encouraged but there’s a long way to go.” That was Siakam’s message in his exit interview after the Pacers were swept out of the Eastern Conference Finals by the Boston Celtics and it can’t go understated how important that message is to a young locker room getting their first taste of postseason success. Siakam’s has been there, he’s been to the top of the mountain, he’s had postseason heartbreak and he’s also known that a spot in the playoffs is earned and never given. The Pacers can’t walk into any season assuming they’ll make the playoffs. Siakam’s veteran leadership should give them a reality check when, and if, they need it.
The biggest (and easiest?) checkmark on the Pacers’ off-season to-do list has been completed and now the attention will turn to the future of Obi Toppin, Jarace Walker, the draft picks and a whole lot more but now the Pacers know they have Siakam and Haliburton locked up to long-term deals and can try to build off of last season’s successes and improve on their failures.
