The Indiana Pacers had a pretty clear plan in the 2023 draft. They wanted to fully restructure their wing room, with shooting, length, defense, and connective play.
They already had Aaron Nesmith, the centerpiece of the trade return for Malcolm Brogdon, alongside a late first-round pick from that deal with the Boston Celtics. With only one real prospect available to them, Indiana entered draft night looking to move on from Kelan Martin and to bring in at least two forwards they could believe in.
After moving around just a little, they did exactly that. Indiana selected Houston's Jarace Walker with the eighth overall pick and took a second bite at the apple with that Celtics pick, taking Belmont's Ben Sheppard.
In those two players, they had what they hoped were a connective starter who could quarterback the defense the way Tyrese Haliburton does the offense and a prospect who had all the tools and film to be a perfect three-and-D small forward off the bench.
Well, a few years down the road, and both players are in the same spot: on the fringes of the rotation, fighting to stay alive in the NBA.
At least Walker has the draft status, a guarantee that someone will give him a shot when he inevitably leaves the Pacers. Sheppard has less to go off of. He's a fine replacement-level player, but he has not become the bench staple he was expected to be.
How did we get here? Who's at fault? Is Sheppard responsible for not excelling? Is it instead the Pacers' fault for abandoning their role for him in just over two years?
This requires a deeper look.
A victim of circumstance
Indiana's plan for their wing rotation was thrown into the wood chipper when Pascal Siakam became available. Already a better, fully realized version of who the Pacers wanted Walker to be, the team immediately pushed any developmental hope for Walker to the back burner, asking him instead to be a featured bench piece (when he likely should've been part of the package for Siakam).
Obviously, the most affected player in this whole interaction was Walker, who saw his opportunity to be a focal piece for a team evaporate only a few months into his NBA career. However, within the trickle-down effect of moving him to the bench is the reason that the Pacers still have not seen any value from either of their 2023 first-rounders.
Sheppard saw his role and minutes nearly disappear. He actually outperformed the player taken nearly 20 picks ahead of him, playing in more games, averaging more points per game, and learning under veteran Bruce Brown before he was traded as part of that Siakam trade.
However, the NBA has its own internal politics to follow. Despite being better in that moment than Walker, the former top-10 pick got far more consideration.
Buried deep on the bench, Sheppard had his moments during the 2024-25 Finals run, and took a leap in terms of his shooting during last year's gap year.
He did all of that just to not be given a real shot at a rotation spot, even as the Pacers struggle to solve their obvious depth problem. It seems brutally unfair that Indiana has neutered a young player's career by fully ignoring him at each and every turn.
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