Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam are going to be the core of the Indiana Pacers for years to come.
That solidified on Wednesday when news broke that Siakam and the Pacers have agreed to a four-year, $189.5 million max contract extension (ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was first). This is a straight four-year deal with no options. The deal can’t officially be signed until the NBA free agency moratorium is lifted on July 6, but the terms of the new CBA allowed the Pacers and Siakam to work out a deal before free agency started.
Getting this deal done was the Pacers top priority in the offseason, coach Rick Carlisle said during end-of-season exit interviews, and Siakam made it clear he wanted to stay.
“Seeing how a city just breathes basketball and how much support they give to the team, just being here, the home games, it’s incredible,” Siakam said after the season. “How would you not be a part of that?”
The Toronto Raptors traded Siakam to the Pacers — with Siakam helping guide that process — at the trade deadline and from the moment the expectation in league circles was he would stay with the team. This deal, averaging $47.4 million a season, is the max the Pacers could offer him (it is a little below the five-year, $245 million extension for Haliburton that kicks in next season).
Siakam, 30, averaged 21.3 points and 7.8 rebounds a game while shooting 38.6% on 3-pointers in 41 games with the Pacers. More importantly, he gave the team a quality perimeter defender on a team lacking on that end of the cour,t and it showed — the Pacers were 26th in the league in defense before the All-Star break last season but closer to league average at 18th after the All-Star break and with Siakam.
In the playoffs, Siakam averaged 21.6 points and 7.5 rebounds a game and helped push the Pacers to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they fell to the eventual champion Boston Celtics.
