The Indiana Pacers have not made any significant outside moves in free agency. Instead, they have opted to bring back their own players. Both Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin were brought back on big-money deals. It seems Indiana is set to run it back next year with mostly the same team.
Not everyone is the same. Jalen Smith is now in Chicago and James Wiseman was brought in to replace him. Doug McDermott hasn't found a home yet but he won't be back in Indiana. Other than those two factors, everyone who will see playing time was on the team last year.
So why do the Pacers feel comfortable doing this when a lot of other teams in the East got better? Are they that confident in the growth the team can make a year after making the Eastern Conference Finals? A big reason is because of someone who hardly saw playing time at all.
The Pacers hope Jarace Walker is the key to improving next season
The biggest area of improvement the team needs is a defender who can defend on the wing. They are hoping that Jarace Walker can be that player. Now that Toppin is back as the backup power forward, they need Walker to step up and man the backup small forward spot.
Walker is still very raw but has star physical traits. He just needs some playing time to work through his mistakes. Summer League is going to be good for him and he should be able to use that to springboard him into the rotation in the regular season.
Of course, the Pacers aren't just pinning hopes of making the leap to the NBA Finals on Walker alone. They expect growth from everyone. Tyrese Haliburton, Aaron Nesmith, Andrew Nembhard, and Toppin should all get better. They hope they cumulative improvement will be enough to get them over the hump.
Only time will tell if that ends up being the case. If Walker can find himself in the rotation, that raises the ceiling of what this team can do.