Insider: Pacers rookie Jarace Walker seeing progress pay off with playing time

MINNEAPOLIS — When Pacers coach Rick Carlisle told Jarace Walker his time would come, Walker believed him. And in the last Pacers’ last three games, the coach showed that he was telling the rookie the truth.

In the Pacers’ losses to Milwaukee, Washington and Minnesota, Walker played more minutes than he had in the entire season up until that point -- 43 vs. 41 in the Pacers’ first 21 contests.

Part of the reason Walker got on the floor more was because each of those games ended up being double-digit defeats, which put Carlisle in position to empty his bench. Another part of the reason was injuries to point guards Tyrese Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard and center Jalen Smith gave him reason to dig a little deeper.

But Carlisle also saw enough between practices, Walker’s stints with the G League’s Indiana Mad Ants and his limited game action to believe he deserved some time. Walker entered Friday’s game in the third quarter and Saturday’s in the second. After playing 13 minutes against the Wizards, he played 24 against the Timberwolves, scoring five points, dishing out three assists and grabbing two rebounds and two steals.

“Jarace earned his minutes tonight with how he played last night,” Carlisle said after Saturday’s game. “He earned the right to play extended minutes in the first and second half.”

Walker also earned the right by exuding patience that belies his age through the first seven weeks of the season. Though he admittedly wishes he was out on the floor more, he has embraced the opportunities he has received, even those that took the form of a minor-league demotion.

“He shows up every day and works his tail off,” veteran point guard T.J. McConnell said. “A lot of guys in his position would probably have a bad attitude. He doesn’t. He comes in, he’s a great guy on and off the floor. When his number is called, he’s continued to stay ready. What else can you ask from a guy? I’m super proud of him.”

The Pacers' No. 8 overall pick in the 2023 draft has maintained that approach even though he’s seen many others in his draft class get the opportunity to make a more immediate impact. There are eight rookies averaging double-figure scoring, including not only the top three picks in the draft in San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama, Charlotte’s Brandon Miller and Portland’s Scoot Henderson, but also Miami’s Jamie Jaquez Jr., New Orleans’ Jordan Hawkins and Utah’s Keyonte George, who were all taken after Walker. He ranks 29th among rookies in total minutes played and is behind several second-rounders including former Indiana All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis, who was taken by the Warriors with the next-to-last pick in the draft.

And, of course, as Walker well knows, the Pacers’ previous lottery pick, Bennedict Mathurin had exponentially more playing time through this point in his rookie season. By this point last year, Mathurin had earned Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honors and was well on his way to finishing second among all rookies in scoring behind Orlando’s Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero. He had averaged 28 minutes per game in the season’s first month plus and averaged 28.5 minutes and 16.7 points per game for the year.

To date, Walker has played 84 minutes total.

But Carlisle made clear to him that the reason he wasn’t getting the same opportunities has much more to do with the position the Pacers are in as a team and less to do with anything Walker was doing wrong or any promise he wasn’t showing. Last year the Pacers were very much in development mode and prioritized getting minutes for young players. This year, they believe they have enough pieces to be a playoff team, so they are putting more of a priority on winning. That means players have to earn their minutes, Carlisle said, and more experienced forwards Obi Toppin and Aaron Nesmith have earned the minutes at power forward.

“Right now he’s behind two guys who are young veterans who are really good players in Toppin and Nesmith,” Carlisle said. “But I keep telling him his time is coming.”

That message has made it easier for Walker to accept and embrace his assignments to the Mad Ants. In three games, he’s averaged 26.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists, making 59.2% of his field goals.

He’s even made 38.9% of his 3-point shots, which is a sign of clear and important growth. At this point in the modern NBA, the power forward has to be able to make enough shots to be able to space the floor. Toppin and Nesmith have both shown that capacity as Toppin has hit 29 3-pointers this season and Nesmith 41. Walker was inconsistent from outside in his lone season of college ball at Houston, making 35 of 101 attempts (34.7%). He made just 5 of 28 3-point attempts in three games in the NBA Summer League and missed his first five 3s in the regular season.

However, he showed improvement with each game with the Mad Ants, making 5 of 6 3-pointers in his last game with them on Dec. 5 in a 29-point outing. He’s hit a 3-pointer in each of the three games on this road trip, hitting three on six attempts.

“It’s just the time I’m putting into it,” Walker said. “Extra time, late nights, before practice and after practice, Just continuing to work on that because I know it’s going to translate.”

It did and Walker also showed off some of the other skills that were the reason the Pacers drafted him so high in the first place. They put the 6-7, 240-pounder on Milwaukee’s Giannis Anteotkounmpo and Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns, who combined for 104 points against the Pacers in those two games. He didn’t slow them down much and with limited minutes he hasn’t yet fully absorbed how to be a great NBA defender, but he did show the necessary physicality and desire to be good on that end.

He also showed off passing skills that set him apart from players his size. Walker played point guard as a high school sophomore at IMG Academy and he still sees the game with that kind of vision, operating from the perimeter, driving with his head up and looking for opportunities to pass. His three assists against the Timberwolves were each particularly slick, including a bounce pass to Isaiah Jackson for a dunk that he set up with a hesitation move and crossover dribble that got Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert off balance and opened up a window for a pocket pass.

“What was really impressive was his defensive presence and his vision,” fellow rookie Ben Sheppard said Saturday. “He made a couple passes today where people were just like, ‘Wow.’ I know Jarace has that in his game.”

And after that performance, Carlisle and the Pacers’ veterans can see Walker has more time coming.

"Jarace has good feel for the game," center Myles Turner said. "He has good point guard instincts, he hit a couple shots, he plays good defense. He'll get more opportunities."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers: Jarace Walker takes advantage of playing time on road trip