Pascal Siakam has had quite the basketball journey.
The 27th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, Siakam has gone from being opening night starter as a rookie to NBA G League Finals MVP to the NBA's Most Improved Player, an NBA All-Star and All-NBA Second Team selection.
Siakam recently joined JJ Redick on his "The Old Man and the Three" podcast to discuss his basketball journey, the Raptors' run to the 2019 NBA title and more.
On becoming a basketball player
Siakam, a native of Douala, Cameroon, explained to Redick that his basketball career almost never came to be.
"I played soccer. Obviously, every African plays soccer growing up and my brothers played basketball. For me, I'm the youngest, and I always wanted to do something different," Siakam told Redick.
"I never wanted to do the same thing that my brothers did, so when all my brothers played basketball, I was like 'yeah, I'll never play basketball…' I said it from the beginning 'I don't want to play basketball. Get me away from it, I wanna be different.'"
It wasn't until the age of 15 that Siakam's friends persuaded him to attend a basketball camp, which led him to a camp held by former NBA player and fellow Cameroon native, Luc Mbah a Moute, which eventually led to Siakam being discovered at Basketball Without Borders.
As he explained to Redick, Siakam first only played basketball a few times a year before moving to the United States, where he attended God's Academy in Texas before committing to play at New Mexico State University.
On his infamous pre-draft workout with the Raptors
Redick asked Siakam about the pre-draft workout in which he was "pissed off," which was first mentioned in an ESPN interview in May of 2018.
Siakam looked back at that workout, sharing that his displeasure came from feeling disrespected. After initially thinking he'd be working out against Jakob Poeltl and Skal Labissiere, he'd later learn that he would be working out against lesser-named prospects.
According to Siakam, the feeling of disrespect had him "seeing red," which resulted in the calibre of workout that probably led the Raptors to take him with the 27th pick.
On "The Shot" by Kawhi Leonard
Redick, a member of the 2019 Philadelphia 76ers, went back to relive Leonard's Game 7 buzzer-beater in the 2019 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Siakam, who was on the floor at the time, gave his account of the events from his perspective, walking back through his emotions as he watched Leonard's shot bounce on the rim before going at the buzzer. Redick barbed that Leonard traveled on the play before the two went back through the epic seven-game series.
Siakam also spoke on playing with Kawhi, adding that the team knew he'd be locked in every time he stepped on the floor. He also spoke briefly on Leonard's load management, adding that the team played well on the second end of back-to-backs because they would be excited to take on a bigger role in the superstar's absence.
Check out the full interview here.
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