Raptors president hurts after trading out star Pascal Siakam: ‘This is a tough business’

Toronto recently shocked the NBA transfer market when they traded out Pascal Siakam to Indiana in a three-team deal that also included the Pelicans. The negotiation saw Bruce Brown Jr., Jordan Nwora, Kira Lewis Jr., and three future first-round picks make it to Canada, while the former Raptor will pair up with All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton. 

This latest roster move marks the end of an era for Toronto, as the Cameroon native was one of the last stars that contributed to the 2019 championship team that brought home their first-ever title. Team president Masai Ujiri remembers he took this unknown prospect from Africa and turned him into a signature development that eventually became All-NBA calibre. 

This past Thursday, the executive met with the press and talked about how it has felt to trade out the core team that gave them their league title almost five years ago.

welcome home, Pascal Siakam. pic.twitter.com/8RZyDmzZd3

— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) January 19, 2024

“Two African guys that won a championship. I share that with him,” Ujiri said with a frown. “I think of his dad. Pascal at Basketball Without Borders. A lot of people don’t know that when Pascal came to Basketball Without Borders in South Africa, he had been admitted into Pastoral school. And he only came to Basketball Without Borders to see his sister, who lived in South Africa. He was going to go back to Pastoral school.”

The Raptors president then said proudly: “Now he’s All-NBA, All-Star, all everything. Championship. … That guy’s success is my success, no matter where he is.”

During the press conference, Masai was then asked if it would work as an advantage to be “colder” in terms of business and management. As he addressed this question, Ujiri opened up a bottle of emotions about all the feelings involved in these harsh decisions.

“Colder than I am now? I mean, goddamn,” he started out. “I don’t know if it gets any colder, man.”

The Toronto president recalled how hard it was to call up DeMar DeRozan before telling him about the Chicago trade

“This is a tough business. I walked around a hotel for two hours — two hours — in Kenya, to sum up the courage to call DeMar [DeRozan]. And I’m a tough motherf—. The human part of this business is tough … My son texted me and said, ‘You traded OG?’ It’s tough,” Ujiri recalled when talking about the hard parts behind NBA management.

The Raptors president then remembered all the other cases which were just as difficult to endure, as he considers that dealing with human value always results in breaking personal bonds.

“I remember me and Bobby [Webster] sitting in my office to sum up the courage to walk from my office to coach Casey’s office. Or to walk from my office to Nick Nurse’s office. Do you know how hard that is? When you share a championship or a Coach of the Year … With time, it heals a little bit but it’s not easy, man,” he said.

Recently trading out Fred VanVleet during the summer was another hard one. “… Trading a player and when a player leaves is the most difficult thing. Fred [VanVleet] said it. When he was asked, ‘What was the most difficult thing?’ He said it was the call he made to me. I remember that call. It’s the most difficult thing in this business,” Ujiri concluded.