Chris Duarte is slowly but surely recovering from his sprained right ankle contracted in early November. After returning to the training grounds with the Pacers, the winger has been assigned to the G-League, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, since Monday. The opportunity for him to return to competition before returning to the first team.
“It’s a great opportunity to give him real rhythm”advanced his coach, Rick Carlisle. “Right now, practice time is hard to come by. We discussed the calendar, so we talked about it for the last two days. Chris is excited to get back on the court and have a chance to really step up. After that, we’ll see.”
Chris Duarte is therefore in training with the Indiana franchise’s reserve team and should participate in two G-League games against the Wisconsin Herd tonight and Friday.
A return to the Pacers on Sunday?
If all goes well, he could then aim to return to Rick Carlisle’s group this Sunday to face the Knicks. For now, the important thing is to get back on track thanks to the G-League.
“After practice today, the first thing he said to me was, ‘I feel better than I expected’”, added Rick Carlisle. “We want him to feel good. When you come back from a difficult injury and you try to get out of it to find the environment of the game, it’s complicated. There’s nothing like the adrenaline rush of a match to get you going and get you back to that level. »
Even if other players like Bennedict Mathurin, Aaron Nesmith or Andrew Nembhard have compensated rather well for the absence of Chris Duarte, Rick Carlisle is still counting on the versatility of his rear / winger.
“He’s a good player. He’s long and athletic and he’s a good shooter. He’s made a lot of progress since he’s been here. We just have to start by getting him back to good health. He is one more outside player who can do several things on the pitch and who we miss. We have a lot of wingers, but he’s a bit different from the other guys we have. You miss a guy like him when he’s not around.”concluded Rick Carlisle.
| Chris Duarte | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2021-22 | IND | 55 | 28 | 43.2 | 36.9 | 80.4 | 0.8 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 0.2 | 13.1 |
| 2022-23 | IND | 9 | 20 | 39.4 | 34.2 | 91.7 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 8.9 |
| Total | 64 | 27 | 42.8 | 36.5 | 81.5 | 0.7 | 3.1 | 3.8 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 0.2 | 12.5 | |
