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Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam will miss the start of the 2021-22 season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum, the team announced Friday morning.
Siakam is expected to be out five months, meaning he is likely to miss at least the first couple weeks of the new campaign come the fall. The start of the regular season is slated to be Oct. 19.
Siakam’s numbers would suggest he had another strong season after making the All-Star team during the 2019-20 campaign. However, those numbers don’t tell the whole story.
The Raptors star averaged 21.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and a career-high 4.5 assists per contest while also shooting over 45 percent from the field. However, Siakam shot below 30 percent from beyond the arc on 4.4 attempts per game. The more frustrating element to his season was the constant tension between himself and Raptors head coach Nick Nurse.
Siakam and Nurse got involved in a spat in March, with Michael Grange of Sportsnet reporting the argument was quite heated:
“Siakam wasn’t happy and — according to multiple sources — let Nurse know about it, loudly and aggressively with words beyond standard cursing,” Grange wrote. “It got personal, lines were crossed and teammates had to intervene, according to multiple sources.”
The two will probably have to mend some fences as the Raptors prepare for the great unknown.
Longtime franchise point guard Kyle Lowry will be a free agent this summer and is likely to have a good deal of demand for his services. A possible Lowry departure would make Siakam the new face of the franchise, though he’ll have big shoes to fill as a leader in the locker room.
In any case, the Raptors will likely monitor Siakam’s rehab and hope things progress smoothly.