After a lackluster start to the season, the Warriors need to make a trade before the February deadline and they have their sights set on Raptors forward Pascal Siakam.
The two-time All-Star has been linked to the Dubs, among other teams, and the need for the Raptors to trade him is becoming increasingly apparent.
If Toronto don’t figure out a trade package, Siakam will become an unrestricted free agent over the summer and could walk away without being replaced.
NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski warned that if Golden State are serious about Siakam, they will have to put everything they have on the line.
“Pascal Siakam is going to have a lot of voice about where he’s going to get traded because he’s going to be a free agent this summer,” Wojnarowski said. “And so, if you are trading for Pascal Siakam, you have to be ready to max him out, you’ve got to know he wants to be there and you have to have a package out there that makes sense for Toronto.
“They’ve been engaged for really a couple years on Siakam. Because he could walk at the end of the season, they haven’t gotten anywhere on doing an extension together. I think for the Warriors the risk is, ‘OK, what do we want to do with our payroll? Are we willing to max out Pascal Siakam?’ Because there are teams with cap space this summer that are going to be willing to do it.”
The Warriors have players like Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga and Chris Paul that could make up a deal for Siakam, ESPN’s Marc Spears explained.
“I like a potential Pascal Siakam trade,” Spears said on NBA Today recently. “The Warriors definitely need a No. 2 scorer, he could be that. He’s had a great season. To do that, though, it’s going to hit you. You’re probably going to have to trade Kuminga to do that. Wiggins, I was told by a GM that there’s not a lot of value for Wiggins right now, although you can package him and Kuminga together.
“You can package Kuminga and CP to make it happen. But the Warriors desperately need to make a trade and that’s one of them they can do.”
Teams like the Kings, Pacers, Pistons, Mavericks are also rumored to have interest in Siakam, with Marc Stein reporting that no team “gets consistently mentioned in league circles as a potential suitor for Toronto’s Pascal Siakam more than the Pacers.”
READ MORE: Paul George Reacts to Getting Posterized by LeBron James
