Pascal Siakam wins NBA’s Most Improved Player award

In a runaway vote, Pascal Siakam won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award at the 2019 NBA Awards on Monday night.

It was a banner third campaign for Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, and his efforts this season were rewarded at Monday’s NBA Awards. The 25-year-old was named the league’s Most Improved Player for the 2018-19 campaign.

Siakam received a whopping 86 first-place votes.

Despite his incredible campaign, it’s taken a lot of hard work for Siakam to get to this position.

During his rookie season, Siakam played 55 games and even had 38 starts, however, he split time with the Raptors’ G-League – then D League – affiliate, Raptors 905. He would make his mark with them, helping the team to its first league title while being named D-League Finals MVP.

A year later, he was one of the leaders of the vaunted bench mob alongside Fred VanVleet, Delon Wright, CJ Miles, and Jakob Poeltl.

Siakam was always committed to improving his game, but he took another step in his development last summer when he attended camps held by Rico Hines at UCLA. Siakam would go up against top NBA competition, including the likes of Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Chris Paul.

Those reps would be invaluable to Siakam heading into his third year. He’d become the Raptors’ starting power forward with Serge Ibaka shifting to centre. Siakam played 80 games this year, starting 79 of them. He averaged 16.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 3.1 assists – all career highs – while playing 31.9 minutes a night.

He also shot 60.2 percent from the field and 36.9 percent from 3-point range. The addition of the three also helped Siakam become more dangerous, as he was able to stretch the defence and hit from beyond the arc – the corners were where he was most effective.

Siakam set a new career high in points when he dropped 44 on the Washington Wizards in February.

On the Raptors’ run to the Larry O’Brien trophy this postseason, Siakam shined, averaging 19 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 2.8 assists. He opened the NBA Finals by leading Toronto with 32 points, eight boards, an assist, and a pair of blocks in a 118-109 Game 1 victory.

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Beyond the heroics of Kawhi Leonard, Siakam was Toronto’s best player this season. With under 10 years of playing experience under his belt, the man affectionately known as Spicy P looks to be just cracking into his full potential.