The soon-to-be-traded Pacers player

The Indiana Pacers have steadily righted the ship after a bit of a rocky start to the 2024-25 season. The Pacers won their fourth straight game on Friday night, taking advantage of the Golden State Warriors en route to a 108-96 victory — their fifth straight. They are now all the way up to sixth in the Eastern Conference standings at 21-18 and it looks like it Tyrese Halliburton had a rough start to the campaign completely in the rearview mirror.

With Aaron Nesmith, their best perimeter defender, out for most of the season, the Pacers fared well, with Benedikt Maturin flourishes in the opening role. The addition of Thomas Bryant seems to have brought some semblance of stability to their frontcourt as well, especially after season-ending injuries to Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman.

The reigning Eastern Conference finalist, however, may still have room to bolster the roster, especially on the wings. Their defense still ranks in the bottom 10 in the league, as this part of the game remains their most glaring weakness even after the season has stabilized over the past few weeks.

Nesmith’s return should help a lot in that regard. Regardless, the Pacers could do well to strike while the iron is hot, capitalizing on the trade value of a youngster on their roster who can’t seem to carve out a bigger role for himself in the rotation.

Here’s a player the Pacers will have to trade soon.

Can the Pacers capitalize on Jairus Walker’s trade value?

Coming out of college, Jarace Walker stood out as a prospect who can do all that; as a 6’8″ forward, Walker was active on the glass, livewire on defense, and his offense was growing as well. His range stood out, and his potential utility as a Swiss Army Knife that can space the floor made him highly deserving of the eighth overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.

However, even amid the Pacers’ injury woes on the wings and frontcourt, Walker was no more than a 15- to 20-minute player in head coach Rick Carlisle’s rotation. And it’s not like Walker has a clear path to a bigger role for the Pacers moving forward, with Aaron Nesmith poised to complicate the wing rotation picture for Indiana and both Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner secure in their starting roles for the foreseeable future.

This is not to say that Walker is someone the Pacers should give up on. But if he’s not going to get a chance to develop into more than a bench player, then Indiana might be better off using him as a trade chip to bring in someone who could improve the team’s defense.

A complicating factor, of course, is that Walker is still under his rookie contract, which would make it difficult for the Pacers to land someone who could help them make a deep playoff run through a trade. They may have to attach Walker to Obie Taupin’s contract, and Indiana doesn’t seem willing to do that, as it takes away valuable frontcourt depth.

But Walker’s trade value will only go down if he stays in this role for the Pacers. So they might be better off trading him while they can still sell other teams on his potential, rather than waiting too late and paying the price.