Raptors legend Pascal Siakam snaps at reporter who had bizarre Caitlin Clark exchange

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An Indiana columnist with a knack for going viral is at it again, this time with some help from former Toronto Raptors star Pascal Siakam.

Siakam, who has helped lead the Indiana Pacers within a game of the NBA Finals and consecutive conference finals berths, got into it with Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star on Thursday.

Indiana had just lost Game 5 to the New York Knicks 111-94 with Siakam having his worst game of a strong series.

Siakam — who was always polite with the Toronto media in his 7.5 seasons with the Raptors before being traded but was never afraid to ask reporters to clarify questions he didn’t understand or thought were just trying to get attention — clearly was on to what he thought Doyel was up to.

The exchange was about whether Jalen Brunson and the Knicks simply played harder in the game.

“It’s OK. We played hard, they played harder,” Siakam said, before getting frustrated by Doyel’s interjections.

“What’s your point, I don’t get it? You good, bro? You’re looking for something I know, but damn,” Siakam said.

“I don’t know what else you want me to tell you.”

Siakam then asks: “Who is this guy. What’s your name, bro?” When told, he seems to recognize the name, and says: “Oh.”

Siakam shot only 5-for-13 in the game and 4-for-8 from the free throw line. The team’s top player, Tyrese Haliburton, coming off an incredible performance to put New York on the brink, had an even worse game than Siakam, scoring only eight points.

Doyel had previously made major waves for his bizarre exchange with WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark, of the Indiana Fever.

It started last April when Doyel introduced himself to Clark by doing the heart-shaped hand gesture she did for her family during certain moments of games.

“I like that you’re here,” Doyel said when Clark asked him if he liked the gesture.

“I do that at my family after every game,” Clark said, to which Doyel responded: “Start doing it to me and we’ll get along just fine.”

Doyel ended up getting suspended for two weeks by the Indianapolis Star, and appeared not to attend a Fever game in her rookie season.

He has since returned to covering the team.

Doyel, who has a history of being a lightning rod on social media, apologized in a subsequent column. “In my haste to be clever, to be familiar and welcoming (or so I thought), I offended Caitlin and her family,” he wrote. “After going through denial, and then anger – I’m on the wrong side of this? Me??? – I now realize what I said and how I said it was wrong, wrong, wrong.”

— With files from the Washington Post