Chris Duarte returns to Indianapolis for the first time since his career began with Indiana Pacers
INDIANAPOLIS — Earlier this month, there was a return in Indianapolis that was met with little fanfare. Chris Duarte, a lottery pick by the Indiana Pacers in 2021, made his first trip to the Circle City since being traded away from the Pacers last summer.
Duarte is now with the Sacramento Kings. Indiana was running out of available minutes, and roster slots, last summer, so they traded Duarte to the Kings in exchange for two future second round draft picks. On one hand, the blue and gold had many good reasons to trade Duarte. On the other hand, it had to be painful for the front office to send away a recent lottery pick, especially one who had such a promising rookie season that ended with a spot on an All-Rookie team.
The 26-year old averaged 10.7 points and 3.4 rebounds per game for Indiana. Injuries limited the Oregon product to 46 appearances in 2022-23, and the team added Bruce Brown, Ben Sheppard, Obi Toppin, and Jarace Walker at the forward spots in the offseason. It was too crowded for Duarte to have a place in Indiana anymore.
"I saw it coming, to be honest. I saw it coming. That's how the business is," Duarte said of being traded. Last summer, he shared that he was surprised by the deal while detailing his excitement to be in Sacramento. But looking back, it's easier for Duarte to see that it was coming.
"You can feel it. You can feel it as a player. You know when they want you and when they don't want you on the team," he explained of why he saw the deal coming. He communicated with his agents during the process and just felt it was a possibility.
He's mostly happy in his new situation, though. The Kings are 30-23, just 1.5 games back of fifth in the Western Conference. They haven't had quite the season they hoped for, but Sacramento is still a solid group. "That makes it a little bit better for me," Duarte said of his team's success.
They controlled the game vs Indiana that night, winning by 11 and tearing apart the Pacers defense. Sacramento's offense, led by Domantas Sabonis and De'Aaron Fox, is electric at its best.
Sabonis being with the Kings made the trade easier for Duarte. They were teammates with the Pacers for most of Duarte's rookie season, which is still his best campaign in the NBA to date. That pairing being successful is part of what made the 2023 offseason trade that sent the former lottery pick to Sacramento seem so savvy.
"It's always good to have him [on] the side," Duarte said of Sabonis. The third-year wing said he relies on Sabonis for advice not only as a basketball player, but also as a friend. They have shared the court for nearly 300 minutes this season.
Playing time in general, though, hasn't always been there for the former Pacer. He has played in 36 of Sacramento's 53 games this season and has 464 minutes of action in total. He's on pace for a career-low in terms of minutes.
"Of course, I want to play just like every NBA basketball player. But it is what it is," Duarte said. "It's been up and down." But he's still in a good mood with Sacramento, where he is averaging 3.7 points per game. "We're good. My family's good. They like the city, they like the weather. I'm good."
The 13th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft didn't suit up during Pacers vs Kings. The same thing happened when Indiana visited Sacramento in January, so Duarte's first ever game against the Pacers will come in the future. After appearing in 34 of his team's first 38 games of 2023-24, Duarte has played in just two of the last 15.
"Chris has been great. He's been really good for us, especially on the defensive end of the floor," Kings head coach Mike Brown said earlier this month. Brown stressed that Duarte is still an inexperienced player — he's only played in 137 NBA games to date. "He just needs to continue to grow, heading the direction that he's going."
In his return to Indy, Duarte had mixed emotions. As he stood in the Kings locker room after the game fielding questions, he was holding a signed jersey from Pacers center Isaiah Jackson. The two were both first round picks in the 2021 draft and grew close with Indiana. Jackson attended Duarte's wedding last August and has Duarte's Kings uniform, which is also signed, hanging in his locker at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
In that way, Duarte enjoyed being back. He got to see some of the people that helped him during the start of his career. "It's good to see the guys, the coaches, guys that I hung out with seven months ago. It's crazy to see them," he said after explaining that some, but not all, parts of being back were strange.
"I saw a lot of people. The arena looks better. I saw way more fans today," he added.
The blue and gold drastically changed directions in the middle of Duarte's rookie season, and he never quite fit in after that happened. Buddy Hield came to Indiana during that campaign, and Bennedict Mathurin, Aaron Nesmith, and Andrew Nembhard joined the team a few months later. Even before the 2023 offseason, the off-ball guard/wing slots were getting crowded for the Pacers.
It was time for the two parties to move on, and they are both better for it. Indiana has a rotation they like at those positions, and Duarte's family is enjoying Sacramento while the wing himself develops in a winning situation. It's rare a recent lottery pick returns without much buzz, but that's what Chris Duarte's first trip to Indiana was like. Now, he'll look to push forward and improve with the Kings.
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