The real reason that Pascal Siakam chose the Pacers over the Kings

The title of this post may be a little bit misleading. Pascal Siakam was traded, and his contract doesn't contain a No-Trade Clause, so how was he the one who decided where he was getting traded?

Well, when Siakam was in trade talks in January, he was set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason. So, the team that was trading for him would want to have a guarantee that he would re-sign with them after his contract was up.

The two teams most heavily pursuing him at the time were the Indiana Pacers and the Sacramento Kings. The Kings were nearing a deal with the Toronto Raptors until Siakam told them that he wouldn't re-sign with them in the offseason. That means that if they traded for Siakam, he would only be a half season rental, which clearly wouldn't be worth it given the price they would have had to pay to trade for him.

However, Siakam did say he would re-sign with the Pacers (which he basically did a couple of days ago). So, the Pacers pulled the trigger on the Siakam trade, Siakam helped them get to their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance since 2014, and the rest is history.

But now, we have a clearer answer for why Siakam was willing to sign an extension with the Pacers and not with the Kings. In an appearance on Sactown Sports, Sam Amick of The Athletic spilled the tea about what happened.

""On the Siakam side, there was an inference from his camp that over the years – and I don't know what form this took – there were somewhat disparaging remarks made behind the scenes that came from the Kings about his game. And the way it was framed to me, [these remarks were made] in an attempt to drop drive down what it would take to get him, and some of this gossipy-type feedback on his game had gotten back to him." "

- Sam Amick, The Athletic

So, it seems like Siakam's preference to not get traded to the Kings had nothing to do with their actual roster or the city of Sacramento. It was about a vendetta he had with the front office.

This may seem petty, but you have to sympathize with him to an extent. These athletes are ultra-competitive. And if they think someone is disrespecting their greatness, even just a little bit, they are not going to take too kindly to that.

I can't help but wonder how often stuff like this happens. Of course, it isn't uncommon to have a front office try to get the best price for a player. But how often does a player hear about these negotiation tactics? And how often does this rub a player the wrong way?

In any event, it's too bad the Siakam deal didn't work out for Sacramento. It would have been nice if we were the ones making the deep playoff run instead of Indiana.