The Indiana Pacers have been steadily righting the ship after a little bit of a topsy-turvy begin to the 2024-25 season. On Friday night time, the Pacers received their fourth sport in a row, benefiting from the shorthanded Golden State Warriors en path to a 108-96 victory — their fifth win in a row. They’re now all the way in which as much as sixth within the Jap Convention standings with a 21-18 file, and it seems to be as if Tyrese Haliburton has put a tough begin to the marketing campaign fully within the rearview mirror.
Contemplating that Aaron Nesmith, their greatest perimeter defender, has been lacking for a lot of the season, the Pacers have finished fairly properly, with Bennedict Mathurin flourishing in a beginning position. The addition of Thomas Bryant seems to have introduced some semblance of stability to their frontcourt as properly, particularly after the season-ending accidents to Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman.
The reigning Jap Convention finalist, nonetheless, should still have some room to bolster the roster, notably on the wings. Their protection nonetheless ranks within the backside 10 within the league, as this a part of the sport has remained their most evident weak point even after stabilizing their season over the previous few weeks or so.
Nesmith’s return ought to assist lots in that regard. Nonetheless, the Pacers might do properly in putting whereas the iron is scorching, capitalizing on the commerce worth of a teen on their roster who can not seem to vogue for himself a much bigger position within the rotation.
Right here is the participant the Pacers could must commerce quickly.
Can the Pacers capitalize on Jarace Walker’s commerce worth?
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Popping out of school, Jarace Walker stood out as a prospect who can do all of it; as a 6’8″ ahead, Walker was energetic on the glass, a livewire on protection, and his offense was additionally rising. His vary stood out, and his potential utility as a swiss-army knife who can area the ground made him very a lot deserving of being the eighth total choose of the 2023 NBA Draft.
Nevertheless, even amid the Pacers’ harm issues on the wings and on the frontcourt, Walker hasn’t been greater than a 15 to twenty minute participant in head coach Rick Carlisle’s rotation. And it isn’t as if Walker has a transparent path to a much bigger position for the Pacers transferring ahead, with Aaron Nesmith set to complicate the wing rotation image for Indiana and each Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner being secure of their beginning roles for the foreseeable future.
This isn’t to say that Walker is somebody that the Pacers ought to simply quit on. But when he will not have an opportunity to grow to be one thing greater than a bench piece, then Indiana is likely to be higher off using him as a commerce chip to herald somebody who might enhance the staff’s protection.
The complicating issue, in fact, is that Walker remains to be beneath his rookie-scale contract, which might make it troublesome for the Pacers to herald somebody who might assist them make a deep playoff run by way of commerce. They might have to connect Walker to Obi Toppin’s contract, and it would not look like Indiana is prepared to do that, because it guts them of some treasured frontcourt depth.
However Walker’s commerce worth is simply going to say no if he stays on this position for the Pacers. So it is likely to be higher off for them to commerce him away whereas they will nonetheless promote different groups on his potential slightly than to attend too late and pay the value.