3 Biggest downsides to Indiana Pacers not playing Jarace Walker

Ever since getting drafted with the eighth pick in the 2023 NBA draft, Jarace Walker has struggled with playing time. This is no secret, as one of the main gripes Indiana Pacers fans have with coach Rick Carlisle this season has been the allocation of Walker's minutes, which are slim to none and almost nonexistent in non-blowouts.

While the Pacers have just finished up their 28th game of the season, a loss to Orlando, Jarace Walker has been absent from most of these contests, only playing in eight games and averaging around 10 minutes a contest.

Unsurprisingly, his play has not been anything to write home about, as he has averaged 3.8 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 1.4 assists on 43/27/100 shooting splits in the limited amount of playing time he has received, which, again, has only been in blowouts.

All of Walker's minutes so far this season have come in double-digit losses, with the closest game being a 10-point loss to Miami in which he only played eight seconds.

The most playing time Walker has received was in the recent Minnesota matchup, where he got a career-high 24 minutes and recorded five points, three assists, two rebounds, and two steals while impressing fans with the limited amount of touches he received.

Despite this, Walker was noticeably absent in Indiana's last four games, all of which except for one were decided by double figures.

While the semantics behind trading for a draft pick and proceeding to play him extremely rarely are questionable at best and downright puzzling at worst, not playing Jarace Walker has had more consequences than one may think.

In total, there are three glaring problems Indiana has that may be helped, if not outright fixed, by putting the youngster out of Houston in the rotation, even for a backup power forward role.