Jarace Walker develops, Pacers lose, reclaim sole possession of last in East

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Feb 19, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Indiana Pacers center Jay Huff (32) and Washington Wizards forward Tristan Vukcevic (00) battle for the opening tip during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

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Feb 19, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards guard Bub Carrington (7) advances the ball as Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard (2) defends during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

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Feb 19, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards guard Tre Johnson (12) shoots over Indiana Pacers guard Ben Sheppard (26) during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

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Feb 19, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards forward Kyshawn George (18) advances the ball against the Indiana Pacers during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

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Feb 19, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards guard Tre Johnson (12) looks on against the Indiana Pacers during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

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Feb 19, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Ben Sheppard (26) looks on against the Washington Wizards during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

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Feb 19, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Aaron Nesmith (23) and Washington Wizards guard Bilal Coulibaly (0) and Indiana Pacers forward Jarace Walker (5) battle for a rebound during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

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Feb 19, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards forward Tristan Vukcevic (00) advances the ball against the Indiana Pacers during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

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Feb 19, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Indiana Pacers center Jay Huff (32) looks on against the Washington Wizards during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

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Feb 19, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards forward Kyshawn George (18) dribbles as Indiana Pacers center Jay Huff (32) looks on during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

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Feb 19, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards head coach Brian Keefe looks on against the Indiana Pacers during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

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Feb 19, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards forward Anthony Gill (16) shoots over Indiana Pacers center Micah Potter (11) during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

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Feb 19, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle looks on against the Washington Wizards during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

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Feb 19, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards forward Kyshawn George (18) dribbles as Indiana Pacers guard Kam Jones (7) defends during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

Anthony Gil posted 13 points and eight rebounds to lead the Wizards to a 112-105 win over the Pacers in a battle between the last-place teams in the Eastern Conference on Thursday night at the Capital One Center in Washington, D.C.

The Pacers fell to 15-41 and sit in last place in the East alone. The Wizards improved to 15-39 to get out of the cellar, though both teams have reason to lose for draft position.

Bub Carrington, Kadary Richmond and Jaden Hardy scored 13 points each for the Wizards. Forward Jarace Walker led the Pacers with 21 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. Guard Taelon Peter had 16 points. Center Jay Huff and guard Ben Sheppard had 15 points each, center Micah Potter had 14 points and forward Kobe Brown had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Here are three observations.

Jarace Walker posted his second double-double

No one on the Pacers has gained more from the Pacers’ injury-ravaged season in terms of opportunity and development than third-year forward Jarace Walker. The No. 8 overall pick in the 2023 draft has missed just one game due to illness and his 24.0 minutes per game are a career-high by a long shot. He’s started 20 games after making just five starts in his previous two seasons and his 10.5 points per game heading into Thursday night are also a career-high by a long shot.

The added experience took a while to make a difference in his game and his performances were uneven for much of the season’s first half, but he’s taken a major leap since early January and Thursday night’s game was yet another sign of growth.

Walker started at power forward in place of All-Star forward Pascal Siakam, who missed the game for personal reasons. Veteran point guard T.J. McConnell also sat out for injury management, forward Aaron Nesmith sprained his right ankle during the game and point guard Andrew Nembhard had his minutes limited in the second half. So the Pacers leaned on Walker to carry them and he showed he can step up to that challenge — at least in a game like Thursday’s between two teams tied for last place in the East.

Walker posted his second double-double of his career and of this season with 21 points on 5 of 15 shooting and 13 rebounds. It was his 11th straight game in double figures. Perhaps even more impressive, however, was his passing as he dished out seven assists including two gorgeous behind-the-back passes, one to find guard Taelon Peter for a 3-pointer in the corner and another to hit center Micah Potter going to the rim on a pick-and-roll.

“This has been one of the victories of the season is his development,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said in his press conference broadcasted on FanDuel Sports Network Indiana. “Being put into these situations where he becomes one of the lead guys as to make plays, defend, rebound and put the ball in the basket. When you come in as the eighth pick three years ago and you imagine what the NBA is like and then you have the ups and downs he had the first two years and now he’s really getting his footing, this is what it’s all about. This is the growth we’re looking for with young players. It’s great to see him respond like this.”

Taelon Peter post career-scoring high with more 3s

Playing back-to-backs against other lottery-bound teams has meant more minutes for rookie two-way contract guard Taelon Peter. After posting a career high in scoring with 14 points against the Nets in the last game before the All-Star break, Peter posted another career-high on Thursday.

Peter, the late second-round pick out of Liberty, scored 16 points with five 3-pointers after hitting four 3s in the win over the Nets prior to the All-Star break. He also grabbed five rebounds and dished out two assists in 25 minutes.

“He’s done well in these games,” Carlisle said. “He’s got a scorer’s, shooter’s mentality. A missed shot doesn’t bother him one bit. That’s how you gotta be. You have to have a real short memory for misses and a longer memory for makes and he certainly seems to be one of those guys.”

Pacers fade away in the fourth

Obviously, victories aren’t an organizational imperative for either one of these teams and both squads operated as such. Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard played less than 22 minutes and didn’t appear at all in the fourth quarter. Nesmith sprained his right ankle in the first half and didn’t return. Siakam, Ivica Zubac and T.J. McConnell were all ruled out beforehand, so that makes for an odd game to judge.

The Pacers who were available managed to rally back from a 17-point third-quarter deficit to tie the game and they even took a fourth-quarter lead. However, they also turned the ball over 22 times that led to 28 Wizards points and were outscored 56-30 in the paint.

The Pacers had a 97-96 lead with 5:51 to go in the fourth quarter when the Wizards went on a 14-0 run to take a 110-97 advantage with 3:01 to go. The Pacers rallied back to get within five points but ran out of time to make another comeback.

Dustin Dopirak covers the Pacers all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Pacers Insider newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs Wizards: 14-0 4th-quarter run by Washington puts Indiana alone in last

Jarace Walker develops, Pacers lose, reclaim sole possession of last in East

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