NBA Rumors: Raptors Need To Hand Future Franchise Player Max Deal ASAP

The Toronto Raptors are entering a curious NBA season. There is no surprise that they want to be back-to-back champions before the contracts of most of their stars run out. One player, in particular, they need to pay close attention to is Pascal Siakam.

The Cameroonian is one of several players in the final year of his contract with the Raptors. He is set to make $2.3 million this NBA season before he becomes a restricted free agent next year. And the latest report on the 25-year-old power forward is that he is seeking a max contract as early as now.

Citing sources, Shams Charania of The Athletic revealed that it is already in discussions with the Raptors about a maximum contract extension. For the Raptors, addressing this now would be a good idea to avoid any risks of seeing Siakam ending up as one of the top players next summer.

Money matters are expected to come into the picture. The Raptors, even with some risk, could wait until next NBA offseason to hand Siakam a max contract deal. This would allow them to count just $7 million against the cap, use their cap space then exceed the cap to re-sign him to any amount up to the max. This is seen as a viable solution compared to having the 27th overall pick of the 2016 NBA Draft earning big money as early as next season.

With Kawhi Leonard gone and the fate of Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka hanging in the balance, Siakam is seen as the potential new face of the franchise. There is no doubt he deserves a max deal but it may all depend on timing.

Lowry, Gasol, and Ibaka are big question marks since all are above thirty-years-old. It is possible that they may still get contracts but likely short-term. Team president Masai Ujiri knows that the road ahead is not easy for the team. In a previous post, he mentioned that he will have to deal with it but likely by the end of their 2019-20 NBA campaign.

As far as Siakam, it appears Ujiri is confident that Siakam will be staying put. He revealed that conversations with the Cameroonian's representative are ongoing and appeared upbeat on the talks.