In the NBA, championship windows close as quickly as they open

INDIANAPOLIS — We spend much of our lives searching for and climbing through windows of opportunity. Those windows don’t stay open indefinitely and sometimes they close when we least expect it.

Ask Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam.

Siakam was 25 years old in 2019 and in his third NBA season when he helped Toronto win its first NBA title. What a magical moment. Siakam thought that title would’ve been the first of at least one or two with Toronto. He definitely felt he had found a long sought after home.

Siakam was the pride and joy of Raptors president Masai Ujiri, who worked tirelessly to create a basketball culture in his native Africa. Born in Cameroon, Siakam was a product of Basketball without Borders, which creates a pipeline for talented African players to attend colleges in the United States and, in Siakam’s case, reach the NBA. Siakam climbed through the window of opportunity, earned a scholarship at New Mexico State and was selected by Toronto with the 27th pick in the first round of the 2016 draft.

He felt he had found a permanent home in Toronto.

“Toronto is just all I’ve known — and all I’ve wanted to know,” Siakam told The Player’s Tribune. “I never asked for a trade. Maybe this sounds naive, but I felt I could be one of those dudes who spends his whole career on one team.”

That window officially closed Jan. 17 when Siakam was sent to the Pacers as part of a three-team trade. In exchange for Siakam, Toronto received a gaggle of young players: Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, Kira Lewis Jr., and three first-round draft picks.

In civilian years, Siakam is young. But in an industry built on supple young bodies, Siakam, who turned 30 last April, is nearing a tipping point. The Raptors wanted to get younger and planned to build their team around players like Scottie Barnes, 22, and RJ Barrett, 23.

The funny thing about windows of opportunity is that when one closes, another window often opens.

The Siakam trade created a wider window for the Pacers and allowed them to have postseason success they may not have otherwise enjoyed. With Siakam in the lineup, the young Pacers defeated the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round and prevailed over the New York Knicks in a grueling seven-games series.

The Pacers have hit a wall against Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals although they have played two competitive games. In Game 1, they were seconds away from pulling off a massive upset on the road but lost in overtime. In Game 3, the Pacers forced Boston to overcome an 18-point deficit to win in regulation.

After Saturday’s loss, the Pacers find themselves in a 3-0 hole against a talent-laden Celtics team that is favored to win the NBA title. But Siakam’s presence has provided the Pacers with a window of opportunity in the future they otherwise may not have had.

In many ways, these Celtics epitomize the dilemma of the unpredictable window of opportunity. Since 2018, the cornerstones of the Celtics have been Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. I was tempted to describe them as “the Celtics’ two young stars Tatum and Brown,” but at age 26 and 27, respectively, Tatum and Brown are tiptoeing perilously close to the line of demarcation when the failure to win a long-coveted title will no longer be excused as the growing pains of youth.

This is especially true at a time when a wave of hungry young players have entered the league. The Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic is a veteran but he’s only 25 years old. Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 25, was runner-up in the MVP voting and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards — although prematurely anointed as heir apparent to Michael Jordan — has established his star at age 22.

Still, negotiating the window of opportunity is an unpredictable obstacle course.

I think about the Thunder team of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Durant, Westbrook, and Harden played together from 2009 to 2012. The Thunder trio was hailed by us as one of the best Big 3s ever drafted by a team in NBA history.

We predicted that the Thunder’s window was wide open. Turns out it wasn’t. Harden was traded before the 2012-13 season. Durant jumped ship in 2016 and joined Golden State. Westbrook and Harden, while handsomely compensated, have unsuccessfully chased championships ever since.

As for Brown and Tatum, I spoke to them in April 2018 during the Celtics; playoff run. Tatum was a 20-year-old rookie playing in his first playoff game. Brown was 21 years old and in his second pro season. The Celtics defeated Milwaukee before losing to Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals. This was also Siakam’s second season in the league, and he was beginning to make a difference in Toronto. His window was widening. Siakam was being favorably compared to Draymond Green for his versatility as a defender and for his prowess as a midrange scorer.

A year later, Siakam helped Toronto win an NBA title. The difference between Siakam and Tatum and Brown is that no one was predicting that Siakam would help create a dynasty.

When the Tatum-Brown Celtics lost to Cleveland in 2018, the loss was celebrated as the first step toward an NBA title. The window of opportunity was seen as being wide open. When Boston lost to Milwaukee in the 2019 conference semifinals, no alarms were sounded. Similarly, when they lost to Miami in the 2020 conference finals, disappointment was offset by the promise of youth.

The Celtics first-round loss to the Nets in 2021 was problematic and grumblings about breaking up the Tatum-Brown duo emerged. But in 2022, the Celtics reached the NBA Finals and while they lost, there was no shame attached to losing to the Golden State Warriors.

After the Celtics lost to Miami in the Eastern Conference finals in 2023, there was pronounced criticism — of the new head coach, Joe Mazzulla, and of Brown and Tatum. Brown was too careless with the basketball. Tatum was too passive and seemed to go through stretches when he seemed bored. And could the “your turn/my turn” interplay between Tatum and Brown win a title?

Yet here they are, primed for a seventh shot at the title. The Celtics have stormed through the playoffs, even though critics point out that they defeated Miami without Jimmy Butler and Cleveland with Donovan Mitchell injured and have squeaked by Indiana without an injured Tyrese Haliburton. Regardless of who they face in the finals — likely Dallas — the Celtics will be favored to win the NBA title.

What happens if they don’t? And what happens when Brown turns 31 and Tatum turns 30 without having won an NBA title? Will Celtics management determine — as Raptors management determined about Siakam — that the window of opportunity for this group has closed?

Unthinkable, right?

Not really. Ask Siakam.

He told The Players Tribune that he thought he would be part of the Raptors Renaissance. “I helped the Raptors win their first NBA title. So eventually I’ll help them win their second. I always took that as a given,” he said. “I took a lot of pride in being that guy who’s connecting the past and the future here and keeping it all as one era. But I also realize it’s a business … and it’s their right to decide when it’s time for an era to end.”

Whether you’re the Boston Celtics or just a regular Joe looking for a break, windows of opportunity open and windows close. We can’t predict the timing but this much is certain: Windows don’t stay open indefinitely.