The Toronto Raptors managed to keep a cornerstone for their franchise as fourth-year young man Pascal Siakam agreed to a four-year, 130-million-U.S.-dollar contract extension, according to agents Todd Ramasar and Jaafar Choufani.

This made Siakam the third player from the 2016 NBA Draft to have acquired a maximum deal, like Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers and Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets. The difference is that Simmons (No. 1 select) and Murray (No. 7 select) were selected with top 10 picks, while Siakam was selected with the No. 27 pick.

Though he did not show anything special with his game in the first two years with the Raptors, Siakam impressed the league in the 2018-19 season. Having averaged 16.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game in the regular season, the 25-year-old forward was able to drop an average of 19 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists and one steal in the playoffs. As the Raptors' No. 2 firepower after Kawhi Leonard, Siakam buried 11 straight shots in Game 1 of the 2019 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

As Leonard left Toronto this summer, many expected the champion team to start rebuilding in the new season. Though they kept denying it and this week gave their starting point guard a one-year, 31-million-U.S.-dollar contract, more reports called it a move to make trading Lowy easier.

Now that Siakam's stay has been confirmed, at least the Raptors will have a future leader. Of course, he still has a lot to work on to prove he is qualified. 

For example, more than half of his points came from transitional offense; Leonard drew most of the opponents' defensive attention; the team had two excellent passers, Lowry and Marc Gasol who may not stay with the team for long; furthermore, though Siakam showed certain offensive skills of posting up and perimeter penetrating, he could do no more than simple layups with his left hand, not to mention he lacks a steady 3-pointer and pull-up shooting ability.