Pascal Siakam should be an All-Star

The Pacers are in no way his fault.

Good morning. Let's basketball.

The East All-Star ballot is a little grim. There are some no-brainer options: Jalen Brunson, Jaylen Brown, Cade Cunningham, Tyrese Maxey, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Donovan Mitchell, Jalen Johnson, Scottie Barnes. That's eight. You need four more. One member of the Heat seems appropriate (Norm Powell or Bam Adebayo). There isn't really an appropriate Magician: Paolo Banchero hasn't been great, Franz Wagner has been out a while and Desmond Bane had such a slow start. You can add a second Piston (Jalen Duren) or Knick (Karl-Anthony Towns or O.G. Anunoby) or Celtic (I have heard a smart person make the case for Derrick White on a podcast) or Raptor (Brandon Ingram, I guess?) or Cavalier (Evan Mobley) or Heatian (the other of Norm and Bam) or a single Bull (Josh Giddey) or Hornet (Kon Knueppel?!).

This is all to say that you can construct an Eastern Conference menu of 12 players that makes sense as a reflection of what's going on. But as opposed to the West, where highly deserving players are going to be left off, you're going to need to be more generous than usual to get to 12 players.

Which is why, if we're being generous, Pascal Siakam should get a fair look and, I'd posit, should be one of the 12 All-Stars.

Yes, the Pacers are 9-31, second worst record in the league and worst in the East. But no one thinks that has anything to do with Siakam, who has been remarkably steady despite the loss of the team's clear offensive engine, his frontcourt co-star and a lot of injury time to other key players. Siakam has been there all along, and for multiple stretches was essentially all Indiana had. He's played 39 of the team's 40 games. The Pacers are tanking. Pascal is not.

With Tyrese Haliburton out for the season, Siakam has taken on the largest offensive role of his career. Remember, in Toronto he had a variety of volume ballhandlers around him: Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan initially, then Fred VanVleet and Kawhi Leonard, then Scottie Barnes. His usage rate is a shade under 29% this season, higher even than that post-championship, post-Kawhi 2019-20 season that fell apart in the bubble. He's top 20 in the league in usage for the first time in his career. He's being asked for more than ever despite the team's low aims.

And he's doing pretty good with it: the role has docked his efficiency, which is usually elite and is currently merely real good. Given the lack of organization and options around him, I'm often surprised that he can get such clean looks. A lot of that comes down to individual skill and creativity. Look at the look he manages to get against Derrick White to win Monday's game against Boston. This is classic Siakam against an elite albeit smaller defender. (And yes, check out that screen; it will become important later in the newsletter.)

If I'm remembering correctly, that's two game-winners for Siakam already this season (the jumper over the Bulls is the other) and he had another go-ahead clutch shot overtaken by a Paolo Banchero winner. The Pacers aren't winning much. When they are, Pascal is largely delivering the Ws.

Siakam's stats and pedigree are better than some of these other All-Star options. He was an All-Star last season with similar numbers. The only reason to keep him off is the Pacers' record. You have to ask yourself if Siakam has anything at all to do with that record. I don't think so, and as such, the case for Pascal as an All-Star seems pretty clear.

Scores

Jazz 123, Cavaliers 112 – Sure. Give up 150 in regulation to the Hornets, then a few nights later hold the Cavs to an offensive rating of 106. Sure. Jusuf Nurkic: making an impact!

Keyonte George: making an impact.

Celtics 96, Pacers 98 – Boston is becoming a team of officiating truthers. Days after Jaylen Brown's rant about free throws, Joe Mazzulla responds to a series of questions about the end of the game with the words "illegal screen" over and over and over.

Sixers 115, Raptors 102 – This was a beatdown, don't let the score fool you. This applies to just about every potential series, but especially so here: if these teams meet in the playoffs, it's really going to come down to health.

Awesome moment as Nick Nurse puts in Kyle Lowry in the Sixers' final regular season visit to Toronto this season.

Nets 105, Mavericks 113 – I didn't mention it on Monday, but Anthony Davis is out for at least six weeks and maybe longer with ligament damage in his hand. That means that Dallas' hopes for a postseason spot are slim and shriveling (they are 2.5 games out of No. 10 with a team in their way), that Kyrie Irving is probably not going to play much if at all this season and that Davis is unlikely to be traded before the offseason. I wonder if it makes an AD trade less likely overall: the Mavs don't have control over their 2027 draft pick, so rebooting next season with AD, Kyrie, Cooper Flagg and whatever else they keep or pull together this offseason could be fruitful.

Cooper Flagg is very good.

Lakers 112, Kings 124 – Tanking or not, beating the Lakers is also appreciated in Sacramento. It has been mindnumbing that Malik Monk has not had a longer leash with Domantas Sabonis and Keegan Murray's injury issues this season. He's the most exciting player on the roster and quite possibly one of the four or five best players. Let him cook.

Let Mark Jones cook, too.

The Lakers' earned reputation as a mediocre team with a good record is finally catching up to them. L.A. is 4-6 in the last 10 and, more worryingly, only three of those games came against teams currently in the top six of a conference (Detroit, Phoenix, San Antonio). The Lakers are a half-game out of the play-in and are No. 26 in defense on the season. Maybe they should get in the Anthony Davis sweepstakes?

Hornets 109, Clippers 117 – Ten wins in 12 games for the Clippers. The most important thing has been the stabilization of the defense, which is sixth in the NBA over the past 12 games and was No. 26 in the league to that point. The offense is a whole lot better, too, even with James Harden struggling a bit since Kawhi Leonard got hot.

I'm confident that the Clippers will make the play-in over the Blazers or Grizzlies at this point. The gap's way too big to make the top six, though.

Schedule

2Coast2Curious on Peacock. All times Eastern.

Suns at Heat, 7:30
Bulls at Rockets, 8
Timberwolves at Bucks, 8
Nuggets at Pelicans, 8
Spurs at Thunder, 8, NBC for some/Peacock for all
Hawks at Lakers, 10:30
Blazers at Warriors, 11, NBC for some/Peacock for all

Be excellent to each other.