Pascal Siakam: The Best Story In Basketball

Madison Square Garden is often referred to as the “Mecca of Basketball”. It is the spiritual home of a sport beloved by so many. From Billy Joel concerts to Jeremy Lin scoring 38, the arena has witnessed many famous nights. May 23 marked another famous night and in typical fashion, one that did not favour the New York Knicks. Friday night saw Pascal Siakam score 39 points at MSG, a place where he had previously set his career high of 52. While he will undoubtedly be celebrated for an excellent scoring performance, it is his journey to NBA stardom that I want to celebrate. I believe it to be one of the most inspiring stories in sports and one that can invoke all sorts of emotion. Siakam’s story is a tale of grief, passion and hard work. Few NBA fans outside of Toronto and Indianapolis know anything meaningful about the man and his life story as his story is one that is not told often enough.

Childhood And Collegiate Career

Born in Douala, Cameroon’s largest city and economic hub, Siakam was born into a large catholic family with three older brothers. Siakam’s brothers all excelled in basketball with each of them playing at the collegiate level. Despite this, Pascal had little to no interest in basketball at first, his sport of choice being soccer. As much as they were a basketball family, first and foremost the Siakam’s were a catholic family. Pascal’s father had dreams of his youngest son growing up to be a priest. He enrolled his son at St. Andrews Seminary which became Pascal’s home for the next four years at just eleven years old. When he was fifteen he realised he did not want to be a catholic priest and needed to find a new path. Despite being handpicked to represent his family’s catholic faith, he decided to focus on fulfilling his father’s other dream of having a son in the NBA. Pascal began taking an interest in basketball and ended up attending the basketball camp of former NBA player and fellow Cameroonian Luc Mbah A Moute. Siakam was invited back to the camp the following year and it was at this camp where Siakam began to gain some recognition. His performances at the camp earned him an invite to a Basketball Without Borders camp in South Africa. It was at this camp where Raptors president Masai Ujiri would first watch Pascal, a player he would later draft with a first round pick. Masai recounts watching Pascal at this camp stating that “his effort was memorable”. Pascal’s effort endeared him to people wherever he played and with the help of his new mentor in Mbah A Moute it landed him a chance to play prep school basketball in Texas. Moving to the United States at sixteen years old while barely being able to speak English was a massive leap. Looking back at that decision now it is easy to say it was the right one. Now thirty years old, Siakam is an NBA champion, three time All-Star, two time All-NBA player and has secured more than $330 million in NBA contracts. On top of that, Siakam arguably reached the peak of his career in February 2023 when he got his own McDonald’s menu item. The “Siakam Swirl" was an ode to his signature spin move and genuinely one of the better McFlurry flavours. An Ontario only McDonald’s menu item is the pinnacle of success and fame that any young Cameroonian boy dreams of and for Pascal that dream became his reality. In all seriousness, Siakam’s career has gone about as well as it could. He has achieved incredible success both on a team level and individual level and when all is said and done I expect to see his number 43 jersey hanging in the rafters at Scotiabank Arena. His time in the United States prior to the glory and fame of the NBA was actually quite difficult. He played a season at God’s Academy in Lewisville Texas where he was not a known college basketball prospect. New Mexico State head coach Marvin Menzies was aware of Siakam due to Menzies’ connections across several continents which led New Mexico State to having nine foreign born players. Pascal arrived on campus in 2013 where he redshirted (practiced with the team but didn’t play games) his first season before working his way into the starting lineup in his second season. Pascal played well in his first season as a starter but off of the court things were rough. In October 2014, prior to Pascal’s first game his father Tchamo Siakam tragically passed away from a car accident. The loss of a parent or any loved one is ordinarily hard on a college kid, however a situation that was already tragic was made much harder due to Pascal’s immigration status. While awaiting the issuance of a new visa he was unable to leave the United States forcing him to miss his father’s funeral while stuck halfway across the globe without his family. Pascal has since spoken candidly about how difficult this was to not be in attendance for the funeral as well as he often references how making his father proud has been a major motivation for him throughout his career.

NBA Career

On June 23rd, 2016 the Toronto Raptors had two first round picks which they used to select Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poetl. At the time Toronto selected Siakam it was highly criticised. Forbes wrote “what Toronto was thinking with this pick with Deyonta Davis still on the board is a mystery”. No disrespect to Deyonta Davis, but he spent 2024 playing in Taiwan, while in 2024 Pascal signed a new $189.5 million USD max contract and played in the conference finals. It is safe to say that the Forbes article has aged like milk. Siakam achieving all that he has in the NBA, despite being a late first round pick that was described as a reach is a testament to his hard work. Both during his time in college and during his time in the NBA he has improved year over year and that is no accident. Siakam came into the league as a high motor wing player whose main offerings were his length and athleticism. Pascal’s rookie year began with 34 consecutive starts before losing his starting job in January, finding himself instead starting games in the G-League. He finished up that season barely getting minutes with the main team with his consolation prize being a G-League championship and finals MVP trophy. Siakam spent the subsequent offseason working on his shooting and ball handling, shooting over a thousand three pointers per day and playing point guard in UCLA scrimmages with fellow NBA players Paul George, Russell Westbrook, Norman Powell and Patrick Beverly. He had a solid second season where he was part of an awesome bench unit but it was year three where he really broke out. He won Most Improved Player and became an NBA champion. Additionally there were plenty of signature moments. Pascal had a cool 26 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists in the closeout game of the NBA finals which included the championship winning shot over Draymond Green. Siakam also set a new career high of 44 points and hit a game winning buzzer beater during that season. As Kawhi Leonard left Toronto, the Raptors become Siakam’s team in the 2019-20 season. Pascal had a great regular season earning his first All-Star appearance, an All-NBA second team nod and MVP votes after leading the Raptors to a 53-19 record in the Covid shortened season. Many NBA fans remember Pascal’s poor play against the Celtics in those playoffs. It felt like Pascal got found out, but really it was a pivotal moment in the development of his game. The Celtics sent plenty of doubles at Siakam and he struggled to make the right decisions, something that Pascal has since improved upon to become one of the game’s more underrated passers. It seems like Siakam noticeably improves a major aspect of his game every year. Siakam’s constant improvement can be attributed to his work ethic with teammates and coaches alike having constantly praised his drive and effort levels throughout his career. One story in particular stands out to me. Pascal’s eldest brother Christian recounts a time when he, Pascal and Raptors teammate Jakob Poeltl travelled to Mexico for a short vacation during All-Star weekend early in his career. Christian recalls flying back from Playa Del Carmen and driving to drop their bags off at their condo downtown. They then headed to the Raptors practice facility to begin an on court workout at 1 am. Despite knowing he had practice in the afternoon, Pascal worked out from 1 am until nearly 6 am. All of this being done after a full day spent at the beach and four hours on a plane. Christian recalls around 5:30 am he had to lobby his brother to leave the gym because he did not want to stop. It is this unrelenting work ethic which has allowed Pascal to seemingly get better every single season.

Leaving A Lasting Legacy

On numerous occasions Pascal has talked about how losing his father unexpectedly has given him an increased drive to achieve not just his own dreams but the dreams of his father. Tchami Siakam loved basketball and dreamed of his four sons one day dunking on people in the NBA, Pascal has certainly fulfilled that dream. However, honouring the legacy of his father does not just happen on a basketball court. Tchami did not just raise a basketball player but a son who is incredibly giving and cares about the wellbeing of those around him. Pascal runs plenty of interesting initiatives to give back to the community in Indiana, across Canada and back in his native Cameroon. His PS43 foundation focuses on providing education opportunities to underprivileged kids. Two of their key initiatives include Coding For Champions and Data Dunkers. Coding Champions provides basic coding education while data dunkers provides children in grades 5-12 with data analysis skills. Pascal is incredibly passionate about education and his programs focus on allowing kids to pursue STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math). Not only do his programs provide support for grade school aged children, he also provides university scholarships. In partnership with the University of New Brunswick, Pascal provides scholarships to Cameroonian students giving them the opportunity to study in Canada and pursue an education in technology based fields. Pascal’s commitment to making the communities around him a better place for everyone is the best way he could ever honour his father’s legacy.

Why We Love Sports

Pascal’s story includes everything we love about sports. Basketball is not simply about putting a ball through a hoop. Sports offer us so many lessons and so many emotions. Pascal’s journey in the NBA and even just to get to the NBA is one of personal triumph, the power of hard work and how loving someone can provide a bit of extra motivation. His story reflects how sports are the closest thing we have to meritocracy. Work hard and you can achieve whatever you want in life. It’s a tale we are all told as children and Pascal has lived it.