Indiana Pacers: Chris Duarte will miss the rest of the season

With a record of 25-54, the Indiana Pacers look to have their worst record since the 1980s. The team has just three games remaining, and several players will likely remain out for the year.

Chris Duarte will miss the last three games of the season for the Indiana Pacers with a lingering sore toe. The team has yet to officially announce the decision.

Pacers reporter Scott Agness says, “Pacers rookie Chris Duarte won’t play in the final three games”. Chris Duarte has missed the last nine games for the Pacers and what will be twelve straight to end the year.

The 13th pick for the Pacers had a solid rookie season despite going through constant movement and inconsistencies within the roster and his role. He played 55 of the team’s 82 games.

In those 55 games, he proved that drafting older wasn’t an issue and that he is already a contributor to this team going forward. We saw it right away when he started the first game of the season in Charlotte and scored 27 points while hitting 6/9 three-point attempts.

This would be his career-high as he scored 27 points twice this season. Once against Charlotte and once against Golden State. Duarte notched six games of which he scored 20 or more points in his rookie season.

He also gave us our first buzzer-beater of the season a rather long season for the Pacers.

Although he made a few poor decisions here and there, the overall grade in his first year is very positive. His driving and finishing impressed and his ability to just hit tough jump shots is exciting.

The Pacers are clearly putting together players that can shoot the ball at a high level with Tyrese Haliburton shooting over 40% from three and the addition of Buddy Hield who spaces the floor immensely for this team.

The pick of Duarte looks even better now than it did with the old roster and his numbers back it up. He averaged 13.1 points per game, 2.1 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and shot 36.9% from three on 4.6 attempts.

He has also shown to be a solid defender for a rookie, taking on matchups like Kevin Durant and Jimmy Butler earlier in the season. Seeing him next to Haliburton and hopefully, more than one 1st round draft pick is something I am very much looking forward to.

Duarte finishes the season in the top ten of total points scored among all rookies, scoring just over 700 points putting him at 8th in those standings. Of the top ten highest-scoring rookies, Duarte’s three-point percentage is the best at 36.9%.

The Indiana Pacers can look to the future with this young core of Haliburton and Duarte as they prepare for the end of the 2021-22 NBA season and the NBA Draft. They have a chance to pick in the top six this year.