Pascal Siakam’s philanthropy, goals beyond basketball started with his father
Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam attended seminary school to fulfill his father’s wish to become a priest, before basketball led him down a different path.
After becoming an NBA All-Star and champion, Siakam has used his platform to help the less fortunate — just as his late father hoped he would.
“That’s the base. That’s who raised me to be the person I am and the man that I am,” Siakam recently told Andscape about his father. “I owe him everything. I want to continue to be impactful and help others. That was what I was taught to do at an early age, and I want to continue to do that.”
Tonight, Siakam can continue impacting the Pacers, who will host LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers on ESPN (7 p.m. ET).
Siakam averages a team-best 23.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists through four games this season. The 11-year NBA veteran is a four-time NBA All-Star, a two-time All-NBA selection and was a 2019 NBA champion with the Toronto Raptors. Siakam is widely regarded as one of the greatest African players to ever play in the NBA.
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said the 32-year-old’s basketball game is still evolving.
“Great, great players always come back every year with something a little bit different,” Carlisle said. “He continues to work very diligently on all aspects of his game. A couple years ago, he really invested in 3-point shooting and becoming an even more consistent 3-point shooter. And that really made his game even more difficult to defend, because the more you have to come out on a guy [defensively], the wider the gaps are, and he’s one of the great drivers really in the history of that position.
“He’s a guy that’s easy to take for granted because he is so consistent. His leadership is so [important]. But he never slows down with his work ethic. The guy built a brand-new home in Orlando that has an NBA gym. And I’ve been there. It’s awesome. And he lives in that thing in the summertime, always working on his game. So, we’re very fortunate to have him.”
Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images
Years before basketball greatly changed the life trajectory for Siakam, he reluctantly went to school to become a Catholic priest, not an NBA star. Tchamo Siakam enrolled his son in St. Andrew’s Seminary school at the age of 11 in the village of Bafia, Cameroon. However, Pascal Siakam didn’t aspire to be a priest and was eventually expelled because of behavioral issues.
Tchamo Siakam died in 2014 due to medical complications from a car accident. While the priest idea didn’t connect with Siakam, his father deeply influenced his views on education and helping others access it.
“My dad was a big advocate of education,” Siakam said. “It was always his dream to help kids get an education. And that’s something I wanted to do. And now that I have a platform, why not?”
Vanessa Siakam, Pascal Siakam’s sister and the director of programming for the PS43 Foundation (her brother’s non-profit organization), told Andscape: “Our father wanted him to attend the seminary not only with the hope that he might become a priest, but also to teach him discipline, responsibility and strong values rooted in faith. He believed this experience would help Pascal grow into a great man guided by the fear of God. Although Pascal chose a different path, his seminary experience helped shape his character and outlook on life.”
Siakam had three older brothers who came to the United States to play Division I college basketball, but that initially didn’t inspire him to play the game. His love for basketball began taking root when he played in then-NBA player Luc Mbah a Moute’s basketball camp in Cameroon in 2011 and 2012.
Next came a special invitation in 2012 to the prestigious Basketball Without Borders Camp in Johannesburg, South Africa. He said he accepted the invitation only to visit his sister, who lived there. Siakam received coaching at the camp from the likes of Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo and then-NBA players Luol Deng, Serge Ibaka and Thabo Sefolosha.
Camp counselors, including Masai Ujiri, then in his first year as Raptors general manager, took notice of Siakam’s athleticism, height, length and his competitive fire.
Suddenly all in on basketball, Siakam accepted a scholarship to play high school basketball for God’s Academy in Lewisville, Texas. In 2014, he accepted a full college scholarship to play at mid-major New Mexico State, a school not known for developing NBA players. He was drafted by Ujiri and the Raptors with the 16th overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft and grew into a star forward.
“I really don’t look at myself like I’m a role model or anything,” Siakam told Andscape in 2025. “I just feel like you can look at my journey and be like, ‘Man, he did it. He did it the hard way. There were no shortcuts. Someone that gave everything, just worked hard, put his head down. No matter the obstacles, he just kept working.’
“That’s something I want to tell young players. It’s not going to be easy. Nobody’s going to give you anything. You’re probably going to have less opportunity because you come from where you come from.”
Five years after entering the NBA, Siakam founded PS43, which is dedicated to empowering underserved youth through STEAM education — financial literacy, life skills and mentorship programs that prepare children for success in a rapidly evolving digital economy. Siakam also has previously hosted a youth basketball and life skills camp in his hometown of Douala, Cameroon.
While Siakam is known in Cameroon as a basketball star and loves hosting the basketball camp, he would rather be known for philanthropy that has more of an educational impact and dreams of building a school in Cameroon.
“I wanted to find ways to be impactful in different ways and not just be able to do [basketball] camps. I wanted to do big stuff,” Siakam said. “I always wanted to be different. I didn’t want to have just another athlete foundation. That was something I always cared about, and we were just looking for ways to be different, have real impact and touch people. Basketball is great. I hope a lot of players and kids from Africa go to the NBA. But we know how hard that is.”
To help Siakam realize that dream, his foundation partnered with Tomorrow Education, a Cameroonian non-profit organization. Led by former Boston University basketball player Blaise Mbargorba, Tomorrow Education is dedicated to building, renovating and supplying schools in Cameroon to improve student opportunities and classroom safety.
The PS43 Foundation and Tomorrow Education collaborated to support the renovation of a roofless school in Douala to create a safer, more welcoming and functional learning environment for the students. The new roof has contributed to student attendance increasing from 30 to more than 80, the foundation said. Siakam hopes to visit the school next offseason.
“I have aspirations to build a school,” Siakam said. “Once we started getting into it, we just understood it was going to be a grind. It was going to be hard. So, we tried to find alternatives with how we can continue to help with education back home. Being with [Tomorrow Education] with what they were already doing, we found someone established that had the passion to go out there to renovate the schools and the parks that don’t have access to things. It means a lot for me to be able to do that. This is just the beginning. We have so much more to do. …
“I haven’t gone to the school yet. This is just the beginning. We’re going to look to renovate a lot more [schools]. To be able to do things like this all over Cameroon, that’s the goal for us.”
Said Vanessa Siakam: “Beyond basketball, Pascal’s commitment to our home country also reflects the importance of addressing fundamental community needs. His contributions include supporting access to clean water in our hometown in Douala and, more recently, the renovation of educational infrastructure in Northern Cameroon. These efforts are particularly meaningful in communities where access to essential services and adequate learning environments remain a challenge.”
Siakam was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of New Brunswick in Canada in September 2025 for his educational and philanthropic work with the PS43 Foundation. To honor his father’s legacy, he partnered with UNB’s McKenna Institute and the River Philip Foundation in 2023 to establish a $200,000 tech-focused scholarship for Cameroonian students through his foundation. At least two Cameroonian students have taken advantage of the scholarship.
“His commitment to the foundation reflects these values by supporting young people through education, basketball clinics, mentorship and essential community resources,” Vanessa Siakam said about her brother. “In many ways, Pascal is continuing his journey of service in a different form, using his platform to empower the next generation and make a lasting difference in their lives.”
Siakam had a chance to win a second NBA championship with the Pacers after they pushed the Oklahoma City Thunder to Game 7 in the 2025 NBA Finals. However, Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles tendon early in the game, and the Thunder went on to win it and secure their first title. Without Haliburton last season, the injury-plagued Pacers won a franchise-worst 19 games.
With Haliburton back, Siakam believes the Pacers could be overlooked this season as they try to win the franchise’s first NBA title.
“We have a long way to go,” Siakam said. “We have a lot of work to do. But we know we got the pieces. It’s going to take a lot of hard work. … To be honest, I don’t think about others’ [opinions]. I just focus on us.
“It’s good that people aren’t looking at us. That’s how we want it to be. We have to focus on us, keep grinding and know that in April, May and June we’re going to have an impact.”
The post Pascal Siakam’s philanthropy, goals beyond basketball started with his father appeared first on Andscape.
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