NBA Season Preview 2019-20: The one reason to watch each and every team

Toronto Raptors: Spicy P as “the guy”

Look at the six Most Improved Player award winners prior to last year and you’ll notice a trend: Upon winning, they quickly became certified stars in the league. Paul George, Goran Dragic, Jimmy Butler, CJ McCollum, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Victor Oladipo all went on to become All-Stars and established names at worst, and MVP candidates and franchise cornerstones at best.

Coming off a season as the league’s MIP, Pascal Siakam is about to be thrust into a central role for the defending champion Toronto Raptors. Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green are gone, while Kyle Lowry and Marc Gasol are another year older. The Raptors are still a near-lock for the playoffs, but how dangerous they are may depend entirely on how Siakam acclimates to his new responsibility as a No. 1 option on offense while still being a go-to stopper on defense.

Last year, Siakam made an impressive jump to 16.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game on tidy .549/.369/.785 shooting splits. He upped those numbers to 19.0 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in the playoffs, and though his efficiency waned, some of his postseason detonations helped lead Toronto to its first ever NBA title.

However, as Nylon Calculus‘ Arjun Balaraman pointed out, Siakam’s 3-point percentage with Leonard (41.9 percent) plummeted in games without him (under 24 percent). The good news is he thrived in his limited pick-and-roll opportunities as a ball-handler, and with Leonard gone, he’ll get plenty more this year. How he handles this increase in pressure and stardom will determine the Raptors’ ceiling and his first potential All-Star bid, and it’ll definitely be the biggest reason to watch them play.