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What a great morning to have ESPN Senior NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski on The Wake Up Call. First, you had the breaking LeBron James/Warriors news about 30 minutes before we had him on, and secondly, we were able to get his thoughts on the Pacers and Tyrese Haliburton.
Here’s what Woj had to say about Haliburton, Siakam, and what’s next for the Pacers…
What I find interesting is the point about the Pacers’ “next step”. Woj believes after giving Pascal Siakam a max deal this offseason that developing their young players is how the Pacers will hit their ceiling. No doubt that directly points the finger at Jarace Walker, Bennedict Mathurin, and perhaps even Ben Sheppard.
Walker has played in only 17 games and has averaged just 4.4 points in those games. Furthermore, after the acquisition of Siakam and keeping Obi Toppin past the trade deadline it’s turned this season into basically a red shirt season for Walker.
We’re all waiting for Bennedict Mathurin to blossom into the player we think he can be. Currently, he’s dealing with an illness and a knee injury. The last couple weeks have been tough on Mathurin. But is it worrisome he hasn’t straight up won the starting job? Will he once healthy and with Buddy Heild gone?
So what will be the next swing for the Pacers? Is there one they can make in free agency or is it all about the development of a couple guys? It will be interesting to see what the Indiana brass do this offseason and into the 2024-25 campaign.
