INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — After being swept by the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday night, the attention turns to the offseason for the Pacers. There might not be a more important part to the offseason for them than re-signing forward Pascal Siakam.

Siakam, a two time all-star, will hit free agency this summer.

When he was asked about his time with the Pacers after their loss on Monday, he had a lot of praise for the Pacers and their organization.

“The support from the first day has been incredible and I couldn’t really ask for anything better,” Siakam said.

He said he thought he was going to spend the rest of his career in Toronto and that his split with the Raptors was tough. But, he expressed his gratitude for what the Pacers were able to do to make him feel supported and make him feel like he matters. He said that’s all a player can ask for.

Siakam was also asked if he would want to come back next year. He said he was not going to talk about that, but said that being with the Pacers has been a blessing. He also praised the Pacers fans, saying the home games are incredible and talked about how much support the fans give to the team.

Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said the ‘first very important step’ to building off this season’s success is to recruit Siakam.

“We’ve been doing it all along really, but today is more of a ‘hey, you’re our guy,’” Carlisle said.

Tyrese Haliburton said that he’s going to texting and calling Siakam non-stop and will be active in recruiting Pascal to re-sign.

“We all would love to have Pascal back and that’s definitely the plan,” Haliburton said. “So, I can’t speak for the man by any means, but I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure Pascal Siakam is in a Pacer uniform next year.”

The Pacers traded for Siakam in January, giving up Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, and three first-round picks.

Siakam led the Pacers in points per game in both the regular season and the playoffs after he got to Indianapolis, with 21.3 points per game and 21.6 points per game, respectively.

NBA free agency begins on June 30th.