He’s also one of three Raptors in the final year of expiring contracts. There has yet to be a hint of extension talk about any of them.

So chances are the current situation — (on Siakam) is not going to change much.

Come December, assuming he hasn’t been traded already and James Harden and the 76ers proved in the wee hours of Tuesday morning that could still happen, those rumours will begin anew when the trade deadline chatter starts to heat up.

And now rather than pushing his own agenda, he’s fully on board with Rajakovic’s plan, not only backing it on the court but with his words between games as well.

We can all have our opinions about what we think might transpire going forward, but Siakam, at least, does not come across like a guy looking for a way out.

I think the comparisons between Pascal and DeMar are interesting. Both great players with some obvious flaws - not at the level of being able to lead your team to a championship but certainly could be a third-best player, and Siakam already proved that.

Both players (completely fairly) were big points of pain for the fanbase for failing to come up clutch when the team needed them most, repeatedly.

That said, I think similar to DeMar, fans are going to be incredibly sad once he leaves (if he leaves). Or at least they SHOULD be. He’s homegrown. Worked his way up from nothing. Loves the city even if he’s quiet about it.

Pascal is top 10 in franchise history across every measure: minutes players, points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, win share. He is an all-time Raptor.

Obviously he’s not a perfect player but let’s not take our guys for granted and only appreciate what we had after they’re gone.

It’s time to move on and rebuild

Siakam: “What more do I need to do to make it clear I want to stay despite the front office giving me ‘help’ a la Garrett Temple and the corpse of Otto Porter?”