He’s already got a pre-game soccer routine where he and another teammate play their version of basketball keepy-uppy. The NBA champion and two-time NBA all-star Pascal Siakam is not afraid to show his football skills on the court or hide his passion off it.
Last summer, while on vacation in Europe, the Cameroon international shared a reel on his Instagram feed of an American tourist asking him if he played basketball. He amusedly denied the question, telling the man he played professional soccer in Saudi Arabia for Al Hilal, one of that country’s best clubs.
It’s also the club Kylian Mbappe was linked to last summer on a whopping $332 million deal with a total annual salary exceeding $770 million. To PSG’s delight, the Saudis signed Neymar instead, and Mbappe took the Parisians all the way to the Champions League semi-finals this term. Note: he’ll play for Real Madrid next season.
The Mbappe transfer rumors made the rounds worldwide last summer. “I’m trying to get that same amount too,” said Siakam, who high-fives the tourist. After all, football is the sport Siakam is most passionate about, like fellow Cameroonian and NBA star Joel Embiid.
“I think things have worked out perfectly,” Siakam told Sportsnet in December 2022. “But if I really went with soccer? I can never put limits on myself if I really went with it. Like I don’t know. I believe I can accomplish — literally — anything that I want so…”
“But I always said, if I could find a way to play [football] and not get hurt, I would do it.”
The 6’8 power-forward, who started playing basketball seriously as a 17-year-old, now plays for the Indiana Pacers, who take on the Boston Celtics tonight in the Easter Conference Finals.
After a second NBA title, we think Siakam may have more difficulty tricking tourists the next time he wants to role-play as a footballer. “I’m Hollywood illiterate, I don’t know how to act,” he shared recently.
Photo: ig/pskills43
