Pascal Siakam’s OG Advice to Young Players
Siakam’s secret to progress is hard work.
Indiana’s Pascal Siakam has developed a lot of skill since he was a rookie.
The former Toronto Raptors’ power forward went from averaging 6 points and 4 rebounds a game in his two NBA seasons to averaging 16.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists in his third.
He won the Most Improved Player of the Year Award that season (2018-19) and played a crucial role in the Raptors’ championship title run.
In the 2019 NBA Finals against the almighty Golden State Warriors, Siakam, a third year player with limited playoff experience, was Toronto’s second option.
He helped Kawhi Leonard stun the Warriors with his 19.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.7 assists for his first NBA championship.
Now, sometimes when a young player achieves a lot of success and praise early on in their career, they’ll stop trying.
Not Siakam, though.
He kept the gears grinding and continued to develop his skills.
As a result, Siakam became Toronto’s first option the following season and he did not disappoint.
His numbers climbed again and they were recognized. He became an All-Star for the first time, was voted onto the All-NBA Second Team, and was tenth in MVP voting.
That’s a huge improvement from his rookie year, where he bounced back and forth between the NBA and the G-League.
But his development didn’t stop there. He continued to get better.
He was voted in to be an All-Star two more times, an All-NBA player one more time, and was deemed the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals MVP.
So, what’s the Pacers’ power forward’s secret sauce? What did he do to continually improve?
Well, he just worked really hard, every day.
On an episode of The Young Man and the Three, Siakam said that he just works hard consistently and that’s how he progressed.
“That consistency of like every day putting work in, to me, I think it brought results,” Siakam told Tommy Alter and his Pacer’s teammate Andrew Nembard. “And if I had to tell something to young players, like, at the end of the day, that’s -there’s no negotiating hard work… For me, there’s one thing that like -you can’t cheat the hard work.
“And it might be cliche, but that’s what it is, like consistency every single day. Rain, sun, whatever, like just get that done everyday and you know, just keep stacking it. Keep stacking the days… And I think for me that brings the result.”
Siakam sustained a torn labrum in 2021 and it stunned his development.
Critics criticized him during this time, saying he was overrated. But after he got surgery, he got right back on the development train.
The season after his surgery (2021-22), he was an All-NBA Third Team player.
Then, the season after that, he was an All-Star again.
Then two seasons after that, he helped his team, the Indiana Pacers, get to the NBA Finals.
And he was able to achieve all of this with just consistent hard work.
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