Pascal Siakam

Pascal Siakam (born 2 April 1994) is a Cameroonian professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He was discovered as a player at a local camp by Luc Mbah a Moute, whose parents' home in Bafia was about 2 miles (3 km) from St. Andrew's. Siakam attended Mbah a Moute's camp for the first time in 2011, a year before graduating from St. Andrew's, and he returned to it the following year, after which he was selected to attend the Basketball Without Borders camp.

There, despite having had virtually no basketball experience at the time, he gained attention for his apparent athleticism and extremely high energy level.

As Raptors president Masai Ujiri, who had been at this camp, recalled, "His effort was memorable."

With Mbah a Moute as a mentor, Siakam moved to the United States at the age of 18.

He went from one camp to the next to hone his skills before settling in Lewisville, Texas, and attending God's Academy.

While at this preparatory school, Siakam was neither widely known nor initially eligible, but he was at least pursued by New Mexico State University; the Aggies' coach Marvin Menzies had Siakam on his radar since his pipeline of connections spanned several continents and his roster included nine foreign-born players.

On October 26, he became the first rookie to start for the Raptors' season-opener since Jonas Valančiūnas did so in 2012; rising to the occasion, he hauled in 9 rebounds and notched 4 points in 21 minutes as Toronto beat the Detroit Pistons, 109–91.

It marked not only his NBA debut, but also the first NBA game that he had ever seen in person.

On 3 December, Siakam scored a season-high 14 points, which came in a 128–84 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

Siakam enrolled at New Mexico State University in 2013.

After redshirting the 2013–14 season due to injury, he worked his way onto the Aggies' starting lineup and then to Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Freshman of the Year honors by the 2014–15 campaign.

For the 2015–16 campaign, he averaged 20.2 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks across 34 games en route to earning unanimous WAC Player of the Year honors.

Siakam played college basketball for the New Mexico State Aggies and was named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 2016.

Nicknamed "Spicy P", he was selected by Toronto with the 27th overall pick in the first round of the 2016 NBA draft.

On 19 April 2016, Siakam declared for the NBA draft, forgoing his final two years of college eligibility.

On 23 June 2016, Siakam was selected by the Toronto Raptors with the 27th overall pick in the NBA draft, with the franchise signing him to a rookie scale contract on 9 July.

In his rookie season, Siakam started in as many as 38 games at power forward, including the first 35 of the 2016–17 campaign, because Jared Sullinger was out with injury;.

From 21 February through 28 April, he was alternately assigned to the Raptors 905 of the G-League and recalled from it.

Accordingly, between games played for the Raptors, he led Toronto's affiliate team to the finals and helped them win a title by defeating the Rio Grande Valley Vipers 2–1 in the series.

After averaging 23 points and 9 rebounds in that series, he was named the G-League Finals MVP.

In his second year in the NBA, Siakam cemented himself as a productive bench contributor for Toronto.

After being assigned to the NBA Development League (now the G League) as a rookie in 2017, Siakam led Toronto's affiliate team to a league championship, earning Finals Most Valuable Player honors.

On 1 January 2017, during a 123–114 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, he pulled down a season-high 10 rebounds.

He recorded a then-career-high 20 points during a 117–112 loss to the Golden State Warriors on 25 October 2017.

For the 2017–18 season, the Raptors' offensive rating was four points better with Siakam on the floor, compared to seven points worse his rookie year.

His averages improved from 4.3 points per game to 7.3, from 3.4 rebounds per game to 4.5, and from 0.3 assists per game to 2.0.

He drew comparisons to Warriors' forward Draymond Green for such qualities as his rare ability to guard all positions, his shrewd basketball knowledge, and internal confidence.

Heading into the 2018–19 campaign, Siakam emerged as a two-way force, and he averaged 16.9 points a night to go along with 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists; he also made a marked improvement in shooting from distance, increasing his three-point percentage by 36%.

A two-time NBA All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection, he won an NBA championship with the Toronto Raptors in 2019.

He was named the NBA's Most Improved Player in 2019, becoming the first player to win an NBA title in the same season.

The following year, Siakam led Toronto to the second-best record in the league, earning All-NBA Second Team while being named a starter in his first NBA All-Star Game.

He became the first player to play in the G League and to start an All-Star game.

Siakam was born in Douala, Cameroon, to Tchamo and Victorie Siakam.

He was the youngest of four brothers.

His father, Tchamo, worked for a local transit company and was also the mayor of Makénéné.

According to a story by Jackie MacMullan of ESPN, Pascal was effectively "hand-picked to embody his family's Catholicism."

His father thus enrolled him in St. Andrew's Seminary in Bafia at age 11.

By the time he was 15, he did not want to become a Catholic priest.

Siakam initially had little interest in basketball in stark contrast to his older brothers, all of whom earned scholarships with the sport to various NCAA Division I colleges.