Setting The Pace: A Pacers Podcast · Blue Wire

Boozer vs Peterson at No. 2 + Pacers Trade Jarace? Mock Draft Deep Dive

April 7, 2026·55 min·4 clips

Is Darren Peterson — comped to Kobe Bryant and Ray Allen — too good for the Pacers to pass up at number two, even if he becomes too good for the bench within two years?

The cold open starts away from the draft. A West Virginia championship gives the host a reason to celebrate, and he jokes that his nearly three-year-old daughter thinks they just won it all. The bit is sweet without getting sticky. It also works because the Pacers, as he says, have not been close to champions lately. Then the show turns. With the national championship over, the host walks through an NBA mock draft where a tank-a-thon spin bumps Indiana up to the second overall pick. The trade idea is what gives the episode its bite. He has the Pacers sending Jarace Walker to the Charlotte Hornets for the 16th overall pick, with Charlotte possibly able to take on Walker's contract. The discussion does not pretend 16 fixes everything. The reaction is more careful than that. A player in that range could work out, or he could become a name people forget. The value is part basketball, part money, and that is the uncomfortable part. Walker is not treated like a spare piece, but the episode keeps circling the same question: would Indiana be better off turning him into draft capital and cap space? It still sounds like a fan talking through a bad season and trying to find a clean way out. The cap details and draft mechanics matter because the Pacers need hope that does not feel fake. PrizePicks gets a full ad read in the middle, with NBA playoff and MLB examples, before the mock draft talk picks back up. By the end, the host says he thinks it is time and connects this draft class to Indiana's next possible franchise player. The mock matters because it is really about whether the Pacers should trade a cloudy present for a clearer bet on what comes next.

As heard by us

A draft-night Pacers debate that turns lottery luck and Jarace Walker trade talk into roster questions.

The episode is built around a Pacers draft-night what-if: a tank-a-thon twist sends Indiana to No. 2, Brooklyn to No. 1, and the discussion settles into who should fit that next slot and whether Jarace Walker could be moved for the 16th pick.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

If you want to game out a Pacers mock draft with Jarace Walker in play, start here.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Setting The Pace: A Pacers Podcast