Insider Shams Puts Surprising Name At Top of His 'Biggest Candidates To Be Traded'

The rumors are coming fast and furious as we're less than one week out now from the NBA's trade deadline, February 9th at 3:00pm ET. There have been a lot of names out there on the block, and a lot of teams tied to them.

But when asked to name his "Biggest Candidates To Be Traded" from around the league, noted NBA Insider Shams Charania had one surprising name at the top of his list:

The biggest trade candidates at the deadline, per @ShamsCharania:

- Pascal Siakam
- OG Anunoby
- John Collins
- Jae Crowder pic.twitter.com/8Ox464XtAz
— Unbiased NBA Fan (@nonbiasednbafan) February 2, 2023

Toronto Raptors' 3-and-D star OG Anunoby has certainly garnered plenty of interest, and many contenders feel he could be the missing piece to put them into championship contender territory. But his teammate, Pascal Siakam's name hasn't been mentioned anywhere near as much. Even his other teammates, Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. roll off the lips much quicker as a trade candidate than Spicy P's.

The Atlanta Hawks' John Collins and the Phoenix Suns' Jae Crowder are no-doubters as two of the biggest names who are "candidates to be traded."

Siakam has spent a large part of this season playing like one of the top 20 players in the game, posting averages of 25 points, 8.0 rebounds and 6.2 assists. He has one All-Star starter's nod (2020), two All-NBA selections (second team, 2020, third team, 2022), and a championship (2019) to his credit.

At 28, a late-bloomer, he's still improving, and likely has a few years left in his prime. It would be surprising to see Masai Ujiri move on from the Cameroonian now, with still another year after this one on his max deal that pays him $38M next season.

But if the Raptors are going to blow it all up to rebuild around reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes, the return for Spicy P would be absolutely massive.

There haven't been any teams linked to Siakam in rumors to this point, but perhaps Shams knows something that he isn't letting us in on just yet?