INDIANAPOLIS — One of the most important things Jarace Walker learned in his second season in the NBA came from when his season effectively ended.

The ankle injury the Pacers forward suffered in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals forced him to consider just how fragile a basketball career can be. He tried to stop the Knicks’ Karl Anthony Towns on a drive to the basket, jumped in the air to try to block his shot but landed and felt his right foot turn inward. Walker had to be helped off the floor and then had to celebrate the Pacers’ trip to their first NBA Finals in 25 years while hobbling around on crutches.

He wasn’t immediately ruled out from participation in the Finals, but he was never cleared to play in the Pacers’ seven-game loss to the Thunder and months passed after that before he was 100%. Walker said after practice on Wednesday that he wasn’t fully healed until late August.

“It’s indescribable, dog,” Walker said. “You gotta be in the moment to feel it, but it’s tough. You work all summer, 82 games, three series and then you get there and it’s taken away. It grows you. It matures you. I feel like it made me a better person. I learned a lot through that process.”

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One of the most important things he learned, he said, is to appreciate every day he spends as an NBA player, even when those days are exhausting or monotonous and even when they don’t involve that much basketball. His injury didn’t cost him nearly as much time as those suffered by his teammates — All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton will miss the whole season thanks to his Achilles tendon tear suffered in Game 7 of those Finals — but even the time Walker spent with his activity limited was enough to make him cherish his health .

“I’m not saying I wasn’t appreciative,” Walker said, “but every opportunity I’m able to work out, get a lift in, practice, it means a lot more to me now than it did before just knowing that in an instant it could be taken away. Every day is a blessing.”

That realization puts the 22-year-old Walker in a mind frame that seems ideal for the position he’s in going into his third season. The No. 8 pick in the 2023 NBA draft didn’t get the same immediate opportunities that lottery picks usually do in his first two years because the Pacers became a championship contender faster than expected, reaching the Eastern Conference Finals in his rookie season. He played in just 33 games as a rookie and then 75 last season, moving in and out of the rotation, and he averaged just 7.0 minutes per game in 21 playoff appearances over the last two seasons.

But with Haliburton out, the Pacers’ roster shuffles in such a way that Walker enters preseason camp with the inside track to earn one of the wing positions on the second unit, most likely the small forward spot. However, it’s not inconceivable that he could be beat out by second-year forward Johnny Furphy, who had a strong performance in the NBA Summer League. If Walker meets the challenges the Pacers have put before him, he can earn more consistent playing time than he’s ever had before as a pro. But if he doesn’t he can easily find himself brushed aside again and could end up looking for another NBA home in the not too distant future.

So far, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle likes the way Walker has approached the challenge.

“It’s difficult being a top-10 pick,” Carlisle said after practice Wednesday. “You feel like you’re supposed to go in there and be an impact guy. In our situation, his position was pretty crowded, so it took time. But he’s learned and he’s worked extremely hard and he’s positioned himself to be a major factor on this team.”

Despite his fluctuations in minutes and role, Walker made evident strides in his first two years to put himself in position to earn a steady rotation spot. Perhaps most importantly, he’s become a drastically better jump shooter. In his one season of college basketball at Houston, he made 35 of 101 3-pointers (34.7%) — not a horrible figure but not exactly trustworthy considering the added distance of the NBA 3-pointer. In his first preseason with the Pacers he made just 5 of 17 3s (29.4%) with form that clearly needed a lot of work.

But Walker went to work on his shot, especially when he was assigned to the G League in his rookie year. He made 52 of 137 3s with the Mad Ants (38%) and 22 of 55 with the Pacers (40%). Last season he was more efficient on higher volume, knocking down 75 of 185 attempts (40.5%). A former high school point guard, he’s also proven he can handle the ball on the perimeter, and those offensive skills opened up an opportunity for him to play small forward after being drafted at power forward where the Pacers’ acquisitions of Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin cut off his path to playing time.

But what Carlisle and the Pacers’ front office want to see more of from Walker is force on both ends of the floor. A big part of the reason why they drafted him so high was his defensive potential. He was a difference-maker on that end at Houston, averaging 1.0 steals and 1.3 blocks per game for one of the nation’s best defensive teams. He had all the defensive tools to be able to guard 1-5. Listed at 6-7, 235 pounds, his wingspan measured 7-2 1/2 at the 2023 NBA Draft Combine, the biggest wingspan of any player in the class not listed as a center.

In the NBA though, he’s been hit-or-miss as a defender. He has 69 career steals, a healthy average of 1.6 per 36 minutes, but he’s had a fight an urge to make ill-advised gambles that have led to either fouls or him getting out of position. He’s risen to the occasion in some tough defensive matchups including against Giannis Antetokounmpo against the Bucks in the first round of the playoffs but he’s had some issues and others and has sometimes got lost off the ball.

But with two years under his belt he enters this season with a better sense of what he needs to work on.

“I definitely got better with the gambles, just reaching out of passing lanes, reaching out of plays,” Walker said. “I feel like I’ve done a better job of staying solid, staying in between my man and the ball. I always work on just being in the right spots off-ball, always being in help, always being conscious of, even if my man doesn’t have the ball, there’s still a job that needs to be done.”

He also has a better sense of how he can play defensive with more of a physical edge without fouling and how important that is for him to maximize the defensive capacity that his body gives him.

“Fighting through screens,” Walker said. “Bumping on cuts, bumping on drives, just being more hands-on, more physical. I feel like that’s a better way to get engaged with the game as well.”

He also wants to play with more force on offense. In his first two seasons, 51.1% of his field goal attempts have been 3-pointers. For a modern-day wing, taking a heavy diet of catch-and-shoot 3s isn’t a bad thing, but Walker believes he can be more of weapon off the bounce. He’s comfortable handling the ball on the perimeter and he has more than enough strength to finish at the rim, but he needs some work getting from point A to point B.

“My drives to the basket and just straight line drives,” Walker said when asked how he wants to show more force. “Just being assertive and playing my game.”

Walker has a mentor in that pursuit in Siakam. The three-time All-Star was acquired midway through Walker’s rookie season, and one of the things the Pacers asked him to do to get Siakam to be more comfortable in a leadership role was to get him to talk to Walker about making the most out of his G League assignments. Siakam got extensive work on Toronto’s affiliate — Raptors 905 — and helped lead that squad to a G League title.

Since then, Siakam has maintained an interest in Walker’s development and invited Walker to workout with him in August at the gym he has in his Orlando home. Siakam posted some professionally edited videos of the sessions online, including one in which Siakam implored Walker to drive the ball more and drive it harder and with less wasted motion.

Getting to the rim off the bounce is one of Siakam’s specialties, so Walker said he took that to heart.

“I would say that quick first step that he has,” Walker said when asked what he learned from Siakam. “Whenever he puts the ball on the floor, he’s going somewhere. He’s not catching it and dribbling in the same spot or sizing up his defender. He’s very to-the-point with his moves, so I feel like if I can learn that and kind of take them from home and implement my own game to it, it would be really effective.”

While working on defensive force and offensive moves, Walker has also pushed himself to get in excellent condition quickly after not being able to run full speed on his ankle for most of the summer. He took up boxing workouts in Houston over the summer and worked on a stationary bike and did whatever he could to stay in the best shape he could so he could run the floor and play the pressure defense the Pacers expect.

And when he got back to Indiana for camp, Carlisle noticed.

“Physical conditioning his tremendous,” Carlisle said. “Best I’ve seen from him in three years by far.”

It’s a sign that Walker really was treating every day as a blessing and doing what he can to make sure this chance to make an impact isn’t taken away from him.

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