The Indiana Pacers are going to the NBA Finals, and Pascal Siakam is taking some hardware with him.

After the Pacers' decisive Game 6 victory, Siakam was named the Eastern Conference Finals Most Valuable Player and awarded the Larry Bird Trophy, fittingly, in Bird's home state of Indiana and as part of the team Bird used to coach and serve as the president of basketball operations.

While Siakam expressed joy for winning the award, edging out teammate Tyrese Haliburton in the process, he said he was not even aware that there was such an award.

“I didn't know they had a trophy for that,” Siakam said in his post-game press conference. “I know I'm not the guy that everyone is going to talk about a lot. I'm just a young kid from Cameroon that gave everything to the game of basketball. I don't cheat the work.”

Siakam, with or without the Larry Bird Trophy, is one of the greatest international basketball success stories in NBA history. A native of Douala, Cameroon, Siakam was discovered in his home country by NBA player and fellow Cameroonian Luc Mbah a Moute, who helped Siakam move to the United States.

Siakam attended New Mexico State for three years, during which time he became an honorable mention All-American and WAC Player of the Year. Despite being considered raw, particularly for a 22-year-old player, Siakam was selected 27th overall in the 2016 draft by the Toronto Raptors.

Siakam played 15.6 minutes and 20.7 minutes per game his first two seasons in the league before becoming a bona fide starter during the 2018-19 season, the most memorable year in Raptors history. That season, Siakam started all but one game in the regular season and all 24 playoff games en route to the 2019 NBA championship. In the postseason, Siakam was Toronto's second-leading scorer — behind Kawhi Leonard — and proved his worth to any contending team.

During the 2023-24 season, with the Raptors seemingly dragging their feet on a contract extension, Siakam was traded to the Indiana Pacers, who hoped the Cameroonian star's versatile skillset and championship experience could lift up an otherwise young and untested team. The trade immediately paid dividends, as Indiana reached the Eastern Conference Finals before losing to the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics.

This year has proved to be even more successful; the Pacers eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks in five games before stunningly upsetting the No. 1-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in five, and in the Eastern Conference Finals, they knocked out the New York Knicks in six to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000. In the ECF, Siakam scored 30 or more points thrice, including Game 6. He averaged 24.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.5 assists for the series.

Siakam and the Pacers will now turn their attention to the Oklahoma City Thunder, their NBA Finals opponents who will host Game 1 on June 5.