Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri confirmed that the team is not engaged in contract talks with franchise star Pascal Siakam as he waits to see how they perform “when we play the right way.”
Ujiri was referring to comments he made after the Raptors were eliminated in the play-in round last season, when he called out the team for selfish play.
“We do believe in Pascal. We do believe that a lot of our players didn’t play the right way last year, and we want to see them play the right way,” Ujiri said during Toronto’s media day on Monday. “I said that we were selfish. I’m not running away from that. We were selfish and we did not play the right way. So, let us see it when we play the right way.”
Siakam, who is set to become a free agent next summer, addressed the accusations of selfishness for the first time Monday, telling reporters he has always “played the game the right way.”
“I think that I’ve always played the game the right way, I don’t have any ounce of selfishness in me, and I just want to continue to do that, and I feel like I’ve always done that,” Siakam said. “I’ve never really had coaches tell me that I wasn’t coachable, that I wasn’t listening or I wasn’t doing the right thing on the court — and when I did do that, then every time a coach told me not to do it, I kind of rectified it.
“That’s kind of why I’m here today anyway, as a player, just from learning from my mistakes and getting better. I don’t think I’ve ever been a selfish player.”
The Raptors have seemed undecided about a direction over the last couple seasons, moving on from longtime coach Nick Nurse this summer and losing veteran point guard Fred VanVleet in free agency. Siakam and OG Anunoby, who will likely hit free agency next offseason, have often been mentioned in trade rumors over the last year.
“This is the team that we want to take into next season,” Ujiri said Monday. “Did we look at other opportunities? Yes we did. Did we look at maybe going younger? Yes we did. But sometimes those opportunities are there and sometimes they’re not there. … I know everybody’s looking for trades, I know everybody’s looking for moves. Trust me — when the right ones come, the right opportunities come, maybe we’ll take those opportunities.”
Source: www.espn.com