Pascal Siakam, the Cameroonian NBA champion, elected Eastern Conference player of the week

Pascal Siakam, le champion camerounais de la NBA, élu joueur de la semaine de la Conférence Est

11 Feb 2022 | BASKETBALL | 0 comments

[CamerExcellence] – To say that the native of Douala in Cameroon is a galactic, a crack or even an ace of basketball is an understatement. So much “Spicy P” as his teammates affectionately call him, delivers an XXL show and creates sensations that can hardly be controlled through the taraflex of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the United States.

Standing at 2.6 meters tall and weighing 104 kilograms, the Toronto Raptors winger has established himself over the past four years as an indispensable link in his team’s success.  This year, Siakam is again making the statistics count.

He has been volcanic in his last few games. Pascal Siakam has continued his success with 30 points. He has averaged 27.8 points over the last five games. Not selected for the All-Star Game, the Cameroonian from Toronto has nevertheless just been elected player of the week in the Eastern Conference, which ended on 7 February 2022.

The Raptors have won nine of their last ten games, and the Douala native is no stranger to this, averaging 28.5 points at 70%, 9.8 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.8 steals this week.

His craft has peaked during the 2018/2019 season. During this exercise, the Cameroonian basketball player was a tractor for the Raptors for their first title. It is understandable why in February 2020, Toronto number 43 participated in the All-Star Game.  A consecration for an NBA player. One year later, the man who first shouted in Douala in 1994 was crowned the NBA’s most improved player.

An innate talent

Basketball fits him like a glove. For Siakam is endowed with technical and athletic qualities above the rest. He is a complete player. His spindly body gives him a speed enhanced by a strong leaping ability.

His coach, Monty Williams, is full of praise for him.  Pascal “is a nightmare because when he takes the ball to the basket, he’s just hard to stop,” he says. When you put small guys on him, he goes high, and when you put a big guy on him, he’ll speed up. It’s a nightmare for coaches and players in the league.

A role model for local youth

His performances earned him a lot of money. With a salary of more than 30 million dollars per year (15 billion CFA francs), the Indomitable Lion of the orange ball has broken the record of the highest-paid African athlete in 2021. 

He only had eyes for business and his parents saw him offering himself in the priesthood for the very high.  But basketball chose Pascal in 2011 when fate placed him on his path in a training camp, a certain Luc Mbah a Moute at the time NBA player. He was immediately spotted.

In 2013, the prodigy joined first the high school of Texas and then the University of New Mexico before jumping to Toronto.  Since then, the star of Cameroon has not ceased to strengthen his compatriots: “Look at me, I was a little scrawny kid from Cameroon and now I am a champion’’.  A champion that Cameroonians dream of seeing in the colours of the national team.

By Frank Boris NKENGUE, CamerExcellence

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