ESPN ranks Pascal Siakam as the best Raptor and a top-25 player going into next season

Pascal Siakam’s stock is rising, fast. After entering last season as a projected platoon starter and blowing those expectations away completely — a NBA champion, Most Improved Player and fringe All-Star by season’s end — the experts are treating Siakam as a bonafide star entering 2019-20.

In ESPN’s ranking of the top 100 players in the NBA, Siakam clocks in at 22, right above Blake Griffin and trailing Jimmy Butler. Pretty good company! ESPN’s Tim Bontemps writes:

“What is Siakam's ceiling? Last year, he blossomed into a star next to Kawhi Leonard, helping the Raptors win their first title while earning the NBA's Most Improved Player award. Now that Leonard is gone from Toronto, this has become Siakam's team. If Toronto is going to remain a factor in the East, it needs Siakam to take another step and become an All-Star and All-NBA candidate this season.”

At 22, Siakam clocks in as the highest Raptor on ESPN’s list. Kyle Lowry ranks 39th, Marc Gasol 61st and Fred VanVleet 88th.

Siakam also ranks higher on ESPN’s list than in a similar list released by Sports Illustrated earlier this month, which had him 24th in the league. Consensus opinion on him is clearly up around the league. This next season, especially with the vacuum in touches left by Kawhi Leonard’s departure, is definitely going to be an exciting opportunity for Spicy P.

h/t ESPN