The Indiana Pacers will be without 2023 former first-round pick Ben Sheppard, who has torn his meniscus in his left knee. Sheppard's season could have gone in many different directions, from a shocking rotation X-factor to being fully ignored and forgotten.
With Sheppard likely gone for a few months or even the entire season, expect to see a lot more of Jalen Slawson, who has been pushing for more minutes even when Ben was healthy.
The sad truth is that this was likely a make-or-break year for Sheppard, who has never really proven to be a high-level difference-maker. Set to enter restricted free agency this summer, he may return to a rotation that no longer needs him on a team that clearly does not value him.
Sheppard showed signs of growth as a Pacer, but unfortunately, with the timing of this injury, this may just mean the end of his career in Indiana.
Be my Sheppard
It seems incredibly unlucky that Sheppard was drafted to the Pacers in the same year as Jarace Walker. With Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard already earning bigger roles, and the trade for Pascal Siakam soon to come, the wing minutes available just suddenly evaporated.
Indiana went from a place where both players had sufficient space, playing time, and system fit to make their careers work to an immediate duel to the death in which only one of the two's careers could survive.
When it came down to it, the eighth pick was always going to get more consideration than the 26th pick would.
That's not to say that Sheppard didn't get his chances. Drafted to be a bench option as a three-and-D wing, his lack of shooting development meant that the Pacers could have dumped him from the rotation entirely. Instead, they tried to mold him into a defensive specialist who would come in in the playoffs to shut down one specific player for about five to 10 minutes a game.
While he tried admirably, even that was beyond the scope of what the Belmont project could do.
Sheppard is a decent defender when allowed to be a supplemental piece. If placed in an environment with other capable defensive options, he can more than fit in and play a role on a good team. However, as the Pacers asked more of him on both ends of the ball, it became clear that he just couldn't do that.
There is a team out there that can unlock Sheppard, likely a good one at that. But when/if it happens, Pacers fans will look back on who he was in Indiana and know that any leap he has elsewhere would never have been possible here, unfortunately.
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