Siakam out five months after surgery

Fresh off a frustrating and disappointing regular season, the Toronto Raptors kicked off the off-season with some rough news.

Star forward Pascal Siakam will be sidelined for approximately five months, the team said Friday, after undergoing successful surgery last week to fix a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

Siakam left a May 8 loss against the Memphis Grizzlies with a left shoulder injury and missed the team’s final four games of the season.

Sources told Postmedia News the wait for surgery stemmed from the normal process of getting medical opinions first, before “it was determined that surgery was needed to address the injury.” Then it was a matter of scheduling the surgery, which was performed by the highly regarded Dr. Neal Elattrache at Kerlan-jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles. Elattrache is head team physician for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Rams and consults for other professional teams in the area, including the Los Angeles Kings.

The NBA season is expected to return to its regular calendar for 2021-22, with a reported Oct. 19 tipoff, which would mean Siakam could miss the initial few weeks of the campaign. He also won’t be able to do his off-season training in Los Angeles, sessions that have produced significant results in the past, including a jump to the ALL-NBA second team and an all-star starting position in 2019-20.

Siakam averaged 21.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists this season. He had been hopeful when the season concluded that he’d be able to take advantage of Toronto’s longest layoff in years to work on his game.

“Having that much time and I just want to continue to get better. Like, I think the focus is the same. Obviously, the time is a little more but it’s always the same focus, it’s looking at things that you can get better at, going to work tirelessly and continuously on those things and becoming a better player,” Siakam had said.