An Indiana Pacers insider has suggested that the team could make a surprising trade to get into the NBA Draft.
With under 24 hours remaining before the 2026 NBA Draft gets underway, the Indiana Pacers currently do not hold a single pick.
After losing the No. 5 overall pick to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of the Ivica Zubac trade, Kevin Pritchard and company don't have any selections. However, there have been reports that the Pacers are looking to trade into the early stage of the second round of the last part of the first round.
How could Indiana make that happen? The front office has one potential avenue.
Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star has suggested that the team could move young wing Jarace Walker for a pick.
"They could also use that opportunity to offload some salary, and they could do it by moving Jarace Walker to a team that either has cap space or a trade exception big enough to fit Walker's salary," Dopirak wrote.
Not only would moving Walker get Indiana a pick, it could also free up much-needed money for the Pacers to be players in the NBA free agency market.
"They would have to pay to sign the second rounder, but they would still have a roster spot open and with Walker's $8.5 million salary off the books they could be able to use more of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception -- which is expected to go up to around $15.1 million -- to sign a player. The Grizzlies at No. 32, the Bulls at No. 38 and the Celtics at No. 40 have trade exceptions large enough to fit Walker."
Walker is coming off of a career-best season during the 2025-26 campaign. He played a much bigger role than he has in years past.
Throughout the course of the year, the 22-year-old forward appeared in 76 games and made 41 starts. He averaged 11.6 points per game to go along with 5.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists, while also shooting 41.9 percent from the floor and 37.4 percent from three-point range.
If Indiana opts against trading Walker, he could be a big part of the long-term picture. He has already shown major steps of improvement during his young career.
Expect to hear more about the Pacers in the near future. They want to get back into the NBA Draft and trading Walker may be the easiest way to accomplish that goal.
