Report: Pascal Siakam named to 2019-20 All-NBA Second Team

Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam has been named to the 2019-20 All-NBA Second Team, the league announced this afternoon.

Siakam joins his old teammate Kawhi Leonard, along with Nikola Jokic, Damian Lillard and Chris Paul, on the Second Team.

This is a heck of an accomplishment for Siakam, who’s in only his fourth year in the league. You know the story by now: Picked up hoops late, an unheralded player out of New Mexico State, drafted 27th overall, started a bunch of games as a rookie, went to the then-D-League, came back as a bench energy guy, emerged as a third- and sometimes second-option on a title team, won Most Improved Player, signed a max contract, was voted an All-Star Starter... and now he’s made an All-NBA team.

He’s worked his tail off to get where he is, and is well-deserving of the honour.

Siakam averaged 23.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game in 53 pre-Bubble games, on 46/36/80 shooting splits. And yes, we do feel compelled to note that this year’s NBA Awards and All-NBA honours only take into account pre-Bubble performance; Siakam was obviously less than his best during the re-start, but hopefully this recognition reminds us all of how great he was prior to the league’s hiatus.

By the way, that aforementioned max contract? By making All-NBA Second Team, Siakam gets a bump in his pay next year; his contact was set to kick in at 25 percent of the team’s total salary cap, but had a bonus in place that bumped that number up to 28 percent should he make either First or Second Team All-NBA. So congrats to Pascal for that too! Get that bag, young man.

Making the the 2019-20 All-NBA First Team were Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron Jame,s Anthony Davis, James Harden and Luka Doncic.

Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Rudy Gobert, Ben Simmons and (ahem) Russell Westbrook round out the Third Team.

Siakam received one first-team vote, 36 second team votes and 55 third-team votes, giving him 168 total points on the ballot, good enough for the second forward spot on the team (voters vote for two forwards, one centre, and two guards for each team). Giannis and LeBron led all vote-getters — both were unanimous first-team selections.

Siakam is the sixth Raptor to make an All-NBA team, joining Vince Carter and DeMar DeRozan (two selections each), along with Leonard, Kyle Lowry and Chris Bosh (one selection each).