Chris Duarte makes it easier for the Pacers to deal Caris LeVert this season

The Indiana Pacers have kind of mellowed down as the talk of the town in the rumor mill, but the team remains as a projected key player in the trade market as the trade deadline looms over all teams a couple of weeks from now.

One player to watch who has had his fair share of reported suitors is scorer Caris LeVert. Following a painfully slow start to the season, the 27-year-old has effectively turned his season around, upping his scoring average to 18.4 per game as a second to third fiddle in the Pacers’ scoring attack.

Still, his future in Indiana remains murky, as pundits expect him to be the most likely Pacer to be dealt before the deadline. Given his team-friendly contract and tangible contributions on the court, trading him would normally be a tough proposition, but the presence of rookie Chris Duarte gives the decision-making on that front a lot more cushion.

The presence of Chris Duarte could help the Indiana Pacers quickly solve the Caris LeVert dilemma

Caris LeVert, quite simply, is a win-now piece who could tremendously help playoff teams in the scoring and playmaking department. Better yet, his contract is positioned as one of basketball’s best bargains, with the scoring guard making just north of $17 million this season and in the next one before entering free agency in 2023.

Thus, it’s no surprise that some teams are eyeing him in a trade. The Indiana Pacers seem congenial to the idea of moving him so far, but given the front office’s precedence of holding onto their assets until the clear expiry (ahem, Oladipo) , there’s also a substantial chance that the team keeps him and opts to deal him in the offseason instead in hopes of luring a bigger package.

Chris Duarte, however, changes that. Not only has the rookie been one of the team’s brightest spot in an otherwise dispiriting season, but he has quickly proven to be deserving of a more prominent role on the team. He has been well-deployed so far, averaging 29.1 minutes per contest and having started in 27 of his 39 appearances, but his role has been incongruent with the seemingly big outpour of trust that he has gotten from Rick Carlisle and co.

Among qualified players on the roster, Duarte ranks sixth in usage percentage, even below veteran Jeremy Lamb, who has taken on a menial role this season. After a hot start, the rookie has hit the rookie wall, seemingly caught up in the guessing game of finding his role on the team’s highly-concentrated scoring schemes. One play, he’ll be aggressive, before eventually settling as a spot-up shooter, only to pass up open shots in hopes of creating for himself in traffic.

Following the Pacers’ string of injuries, however, Duarte has been thrust into a bigger role, and frankly, he hasn’t disappointed. Over the last four games, he has logged 19.8 points per game as the team’s de facto first option on 53.4/50.0/88.8 shooting splits. Not a big sample size for sure, but this falls within the reasonable sphere of expectations for the young wingman, especially given how comfortable he has looked operating with more freedom on the offensive end.

It’s a bit of “homerism” to paint the notion of cementing the rookie as the first option the rest of the way as the quick fix-it-all, but with the Pacers still in danger of chickening out and looking past the clear opportunity to acquire assets for the future in exchange for one of their win-now contributors in LeVert, Chris Duarte gives them a bit more leeway to take a calculated risk as they attempt to make the best out of their stale situation entering the trade deadline.