Pascal Siakam is heading to the Indiana Pacers.
According to reports from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Siakam will be traded to the Indiana Pacers in a huge deal involving three first-round picks, with the New Orleans Pelicans as the third team.
Per Wojnarowski, the deal will send the following to each team:
Pacers: Pascal Siakam, second-round pick (year unknown)
Raptors: Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, Kira Lewis, IND & worst of UTA/HOU/LAC/OKC 2024 first-round picks, IND 2016 first-rounder
Pelicans: Cap relief
Obviously the protections here are significant, but it means that the Pacers have taken arguably the top trade target off the board with less than a month to go before the February 8 trade deadline.
As for why the Pelicans, who flipped Lewis and a second-round pick, were involved in the deal? It's for cap purposes. ESPN's front office insider, Bobby Marks, reports it saves them $18 million by avoiding the luxury tax.
This trade means teams like the Warriors and Kings, who had reportedly been interested in Siakam — in the final year of a contract which pays him $37.89 million this season — will have to look elsewhere for help at the deadline.
Wojnarowski also reports that Siakam is expected to "be eager to work out a new contract" with the Pacers this summer. It does not say that an extension is a certainty.
The other element of this deal is that it may take the Pacers out of the running to acquire Andrew Wiggins. Anthony Slater of The Athletic had mentioned the Pacers and the Cleveland Cavaliers as potential landing spots for Wiggins, who he believes will be traded. Read that story here.