Everything Pascal Siakam

[LJ2]

So everyone cool with paying Pascal close to $60M when he's 34 years old?

This is the kind of extension that becomes an anchor around your freaking neck.

The question should be if everyone is cool with paying him to be the lead dog? If he stays with the Raps I would want his role redefined as maybe the third option depending on whether Qucikley has stardom in his future or not. I doubt that Pascal would want that I sure as heck know he won't want to be paid as a second or third option.

We're 30 games into the season and the offense still isn't funneling through Scottie on every possession. Last night we had Dennis, Pascal, Quickley and Scottie all wanting the ball at the end of the game. Great we got some new players and it's exciting, but I mean what are we doing here? Enough of the wait and see approach, just rip the damn band aid off and work with the consequences.

[planetmars]

So everyone cool with paying Pascal close to $60M when he's 34 years old?

This is the kind of extension that becomes an anchor around your freaking neck.

That'll be a $60M expiring contract though. When the cap likely goes up another $40M by then most likely too. I'm not sure it's that much of a noose like you're implying. Plus 34 isn't super old. Jimmy is 34 now. Paul George will be 34 in May.

[DanH]

Its only been two series. Ya one shitter one where he was sub par. We’ll see in the playoffs how your clutch pascal does haha

Right, you want to exclude the rest of his playoff career which includes the vast majority of his playoff games to date when he was second scorer on a championship team and focus on a couple series, one of which was actually bad and was in the most unrepeatable context in history.

Curious what exactly about his performance in the most recent series you found particularly sub-par.

[DanH]

So everyone cool with paying Pascal close to $60M when he's 34 years old?

This is the kind of extension that becomes an anchor around your freaking neck.

Yes, I am. It's actually pretty much the perfect age range to lock him in. If he was a couple years older the back end of that contract would be much trickier.

The cap is likely to rise by 10% every year, especially after this coming summer, meaning his 8% raises will actually make that 60M a smaller percentage of the cap than what he makes starting next year.

[Limited Upside]

That'll be a $60M expiring contract though. When the cap likely goes up another $40M by then most likely too. I'm not sure it's that much of a noose like you're implying. Plus 34 isn't super old. Jimmy is 34 now. Paul George will be 34 in May.

And it's out there that they are offering 3 years right now, not 5. Pascal will not likely sign for 3. Maybe he blinks and signs for 4. And it won't be $60M in any case, unless he makes all NBA - not happening. So you're looking at a 33-year-old Pascal making low-50s in year 4, with a salary cap likely in the $170M range. He's definitely squarely in his prime until then, so barring injury, it's not out of line.

That's definitely not a noose.

That said, signing him to $40/45/49/52 over 4 years will still make for some challenging cap gymnastics when Scotty will be looking at 35+ as of next offseason (they could take the team option and punt that rookie extension until 2026, but that might piss off your franchise player), IQ at 27+, and Barrett at 28+. Poeltl at $20 is value, but if you keep Pascal, you might need to go younger/cheaper at C. It's doable, I think - DanH could confirm...

[Yuri Gagarin]

That'll be a $60M expiring contract though. When the cap likely goes up another $40M by then most likely too. I'm not sure it's that much of a noose like you're implying. Plus 34 isn't super old. Jimmy is 34 now. Paul George will be 34 in May.

its about being over the cap with the current team signing immanuel quickly next year. Leaves no wiggle room. The current roster isnt a top 4 team in the east. Maybe not top 8. As golden mentioned an “anchor” contract thatll leave us stuck with current roster. We need flexibility, youth

[planetmars]

its about being over the cap with the current team signing immanuel quickly next year. Leaves no wiggle room. The current roster isnt a top 4 team in the east. Maybe not top 8. As golden mentioned an “anchor” contract thatll leave us stuck with current roster. We need flexibility, youth

You trade Pascal then after a year or move RJ. Or move Poeltl. There are ways to do cap moves.. but operating under the cap is likely never going to happen with Scottie going to command a max himself. And IQ getting his raise.

[DanH]

And it's out there that they are offering 3 years right now, not 5. Pascal will not likely sign for 3. Maybe he blinks and signs for 4. And it won't be $60M in any case, unless he makes all NBA - not happening. So you're looking at a 33-year-old Pascal making low-50s in year 4, with a salary cap likely in the $170M range. He's definitely squarely in his prime until then, so barring injury, it's not out of line.

That's definitely not a noose.

That said, signing him to $40/45/49/52 over 4 years will still make for some challenging cap gymnastics when Scotty will be looking at 35+ as of next offseason (they could take the team option and punt that rookie extension until 2026, but that might piss off your franchise player), IQ at 27+, and Barrett at 28+. Poeltl at $20 is value, but if you keep Pascal, you might need to go younger/cheaper at C. It's doable, I think - DanH could confirm...

If we re-sign Pascal and give Scottie a max, and assuming roughly a 5/135M contract for Quickley, we'd have 167M committed to 6 guys. This assumes 10% increases in cap every year. Tax line would be 200M. Minimum salary 2.4M, so the 7 extra spots at minimum would be 17M, plus a spot for one more guy to sign, and 16M in wiggle room to sign him. If using it on multiple players, that 16M grows by 2.4M for each extra player you are spending the non-minimum on.

The 6 guys would be Pascal, Scottie, Quick, Jak, RJ and Gradey. Any additional pieces would need to either be minimums or come out of that 16M. So very doable, but not a lot of depth, unless we are ready to go into the tax at that point (which is very possible, maybe Scottie has become a top 5 guy by then).

[Yuri Gagarin]

Yes, I am. It's actually pretty much the perfect age range to lock him in. If he was a couple years older the back end of that contract would be much trickier.

The cap is likely to rise by 10% every year, especially after this coming summer, meaning his 8% raises will actually make that 60M a smaller percentage of the cap than what he makes starting next year.

MGMT is shopping him and will most likely trade him. Why do you think that is? Hes declared he wont re-sign anywhere else (dirty move) so the return wont be great but they’re still gonna trade him. Why is that Dan?

[Limited Upside]

So very doable, but not a lot of depth, unless we are ready to go into the tax at that point (which is very possible, maybe Scottie has become a top 5 guy by then).

That's an underrated part of the equation, too: If Scottie -- and I would argue now IQ as well -- are who we think they are, by 2025-26, Toronto should be squarely in the conversation for top-4 in the East. If they aren't, something has gone terribly wrong with the development of those guys and all bets are off. Right now, an extended Barnes, signed IQ and RJ's current contract are the only ones on the books in the 2026-27 offseason. That seems like a good point to fish or cut bait in terms of what you think Scottie/IQ are going to be.

[Yuri Gagarin]

I mean he sounds perfect. Good numbers, guy is clutch (lol) even salary in new contract will be fine with inflation now why the fuk would mgmt wanna trade a guy like that? Call mgmt and tell them to put on the brakes Dan

[JawsGT]

its about being over the cap with the current team signing immanuel quickly next year. Leaves no wiggle room. The current roster isnt a top 4 team in the east. Maybe not top 8. As golden mentioned an “anchor” contract thatll leave us stuck with current roster. We need flexibility, youth

Being over the cap is very much the only option for this team unless they are completely rebuilding. Cap space will never be the way for this team. Not for the pricier players anyways. Even Philly is taking a gamble going into the offseason looking to snatch a big free agent to team with Embiid and Maxey.

[golden]

You trade Pascal then after a year or move RJ. Or move Poeltl. There are ways to do cap moves.. but operating under the cap is likely never going to happen with Scottie going to command a max himself. And IQ getting his raise.

Like you hinted at before, if our cheap ass ownership wasn’t so greedy, Pascal’s contract wouldn’t even have been any issue heading into this season…. a 4th year max extension would’ve been done already.

If we’re willing to give a 3-yr (per reports?) then why is a 4th year even a discussion point. That’s how the Twolves and Sixers lost having Jimmy Butler in his prime.

[golden]

Being over the cap is very much the only option for this team unless they are completely rebuilding. Cap space will never be the way for this team. Not for the pricier players anyways. Even Philly is taking a gamble going into the offseason looking to snatch a big free agent to team with Embiid and Maxey.

MLSE’s greedy ownership would rather stuff their own pockets than reward the loyal fans.

[DanH]

MGMT is shopping him and will most likely trade him. Why do you think that is? Hes declared he wont re-sign anywhere else (dirty move) so the return wont be great but they’re still gonna trade him. Why is that Dan?

Huh? I think they'll trade him if they like the offers. The risk of him walking is too high to not explore that. But they also won't just take the best offer if that offer isn't deemed good enough, because re-signing him isn't a problem.