Indiana Pacers exit interviews: Chris Duarte dealt with too many injuries to find his place

It's hard to imagine how frustrating the 2022-23 season must have been for Indiana Pacers wing Chris Duarte.

His best game came in Brooklyn last October, when he scored 30 points against the Nets. He went down with an ankle injury less than five minutes into the very next game, which held him out for six weeks. His best and most consistent month of the season was March, but it was cut short by soreness in the same ankle. Every time it looked like the 25-year old was getting going, his health got in the way.

"Really unfortunate injuries. Stuff happens," Duarte said at his exit interview earlier this week. He played in 46 games during the 2022-23 season. "You've just got to deal with that and keep moving forward."

Duarte had a brutal stretch from Christmas until mid-January as he worked his way back from his ankle sprain. Shots were not falling for the second-year wing. But from January 14 until the All-Star break, he found a groove and averaged 10.6 points per game on 42% shooting. Duarte certainly wanted to see more shots go down, but he was still effective during that stretch. It was one of his most productive portions of the season.

That inspired some confidence in the second year player, and Duarte carried the momentum into his final nine games. But compared to the expectation Duarte set for himself, largely thanks to very impressive play during this rookie season, even his best stretches of play felt like they weren't enough.

In the end, the 25-year old averaged 7.9 points and 2.5 rebounds per game while shooting 36.9% from the field. His worst sequences of play ended up masking his strong stretches, though injuries played a significant role in the number of poor outings the wing had.

"That's something that I can't control. Stuff like that happens. You've just gotta sit down and keep going forward," Duarte said of his injuries. He said he was looking forward to the offseason so that he could get healthy and start the 2023-24 season off fresh. He was recently sick prior to his exit interview.

An added challenge for Duarte this season was adjusting to the team's change in play style. During his first season, the Pacers were headlined by Domantas Sabonis and Malcolm Brogdon for much of the campaign. They played a slower style, finishing 18th in pace, and they were more reliant on two player actions. Duarte figured out where he could contribute in such a system.

In year two, the former Oregon Duck saw the Pacers fly up to fifth in pace. They flung the ball around more and were one of the top passing teams in the league. That method of play, which was sometimes random, took a while for Duarte to figure out.

In his final games, he looked more comfortable. "I think I fit in well with these guys. Obviously I played a different role than my rookie year," he said on Monday. But he was still adjusting for much of the season, and missing 21 of the team's first 31 games made it hard to catch up when others had built chemistry.

In short, it was a nightmare season for Duarte. The timing was all wrong. The injuries came at the worst possible moments, and he never quite looked like himself until the very end of the season.

The talent is still there. He knows how to get open. 64% of his shots were classified as either open or wide open by the NBA this season as opposed to 57% his rookie year. He understands the geometry of the game, but the shots didn't fall.

Perhaps he needs to be pickier with his shot selection next season. Perhaps an offseason to get healthy and fully acclimate to a new system will do wonders for Chris Duarte. Either way, he will need to do what he can to shake off a substandard 2022-23 campaign.