Pascal Siakam not named as an All-Star reserve

Is this news? Hard to say. News would be if Pascal Siakam was an All Star. He’s been an All Star before, and he’s twice been named to the All-NBA team. Honestly, it wouldn’t have been huge news had he been named to the All-Star team. Kind of just par for the course.

His numbers right now across the board are superior to his numbers when he was first named to the All-Star team. His per-game averages are 24.9 points, 8.0 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game. The points, rebounds, and assists are all career highs. He’s carrying one of the heaviest loads in the NBA right now, averaging the most minutes per game, the fifth-furthest distance traveled per game, the 10th-most double teams against per game, and the third-most closeouts per game. He’s kinda just doing everything.

But everything is, for a variety of reasons, not enough right now for the Raptors to win games. Therefore, I suppose, it’s also not enough for him to be an All Star. So say the coaches, at least. For my money, Siakam is having a superior season to another big like Julius Randle. But other surefire incredible players — including James Harden and Jimmy Butler — will also not be All Stars this year for the East. So at least Siakam is in good company. Very difficult to swallow as a silver lining.

If the Raptors were looking for some good news to salvage their trainwreck of a season, this ain’t it! The hope has to be that Siakam uses this as ammunition to improve and a chip on his shoulder, rather than a condemnation of the roster around him. If Toronto had a winning record, for example, Siakam would without a shred of doubt in my mind be an All Star this season with the unbelievable numbers he’s putting up. Instead, the losses keep rolling in on and off the court.