Sigh.
Pascal Siakam left the Toronto Raptors’ Summer League opener against the Sacramento Kings on Friday and will not return. He’s dealing with a left knee sprain, something the team is obviously not going to push here on the first day of the tournament.
Prior to checking out, Siakam was the highlight of the first half, bringing a ton of the advertised energy and maybe a little more polish than expected. He was active defensively, helping intelligently off of shooters and still able to recover for contests, and he generally seemed comfortable with the schemes. He and Jakob Poeltl did a nice job backing each other up when the other was shaky, too. Offensively, Siakam was dangerous in transition and around the rim, scoring 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting in 15 minutes. He also had a pair of offensive rebounds, including a nice tip-in where he anticipated the play and read the miss incredibly well.
It’s a tiny sample to draw from and the Kings look terrible, but that’s about as encouraging a 15-minute debut as you could imagine for a late-first round pick. Shades of Norman Powell, really.
The Raptors have a scrimmage day tomorrow and then play again Sunday and Monday. Even if Siakam’s injury is minor, it seems likely the team will take the cautious route if he’s anything but 100 percent.
