n the middle of January, Pascal Siakam sat on his couch in his Toronto home, reflecting on his eight-plus seasons with the Raptors. With trade rumors swirling after a late-December trade involving OG Anunoby, Siakam wanted to record a message for the city of Toronto and the fans in case he was next on the move. He expressed his deep loyalty to the Raptors, stating that he couldn’t imagine playing for any other team. Charlie Lindsay and Due Pinlac, co-founders of TierZero, a Toronto-based creative agency, helped film the farewell video. TierZero has been instrumental in shaping the tone of Raptors content, from creative directing the team’s media day photo shoots to working on Serge Ibaka’s “How Hungry Are You” YouTube series. After embedding themselves with Siakam during the offseason, they created a YouTube series called “Humble Hustle,” where Siakam spoke candidly about the physical and mental challenges he faced as a basketball player.
Siakam’s partnership with TierZero has endured for almost five years, giving Raptors fans a glimpse into the off-court persona of one of the franchise’s most accomplished players. However, gaining access to an athlete’s private space takes time, and it took a while for Siakam to trust the TierZero duo. As the years went by, they bounced ideas off him, and he was patient with them. One of their ideas was for Siakam to take the TTC streetcar in Toronto, and the resulting video went viral. When Siakam earned his second all-star selection last season, TierZero gave him a hand-held camcorder to capture footage, which they edited into a 10-minute behind-the-scenes video. The team would also anticipate Halloween every year, and Siakam would text them about anything that concerned Toronto and the community. When Siakam was traded to the Indiana Pacers, TierZero captured the beginning of his next NBA chapter and released an emotional farewell video. Despite the trade, the partnership will continue.
