Jarace Walker Prospect Watch: The Hercules of this Draft

The San Antonio Spurs are in need of a good and strong forward to pair with Jeremy Sochan. While this prospect may be more of a guy who gets drafted in the 6-10 range, he would be a nice player to have in the back pocket. That is 6-foot-8, 240-pound freshman Jarace Walker out of Houston. He even made our top 5 Power Forward list!

Jarace Walker Breakdown

He is a grown man amongst boys out there and he looks like a hero from Greek mythology. While he might look that way, his stat sheet does not. But that’s not where he pops the most. His in-game feats and what he does outside of the box score are what will get him drafted. Here are his major stats through 15 games this season.

• 8.8 PPG, 1.0 BPG, 1.8 APG, 5.9 RPG
• 45.7 FG%, 36.4 3P%, 69.2 FT%
• 21.2 PER, 117.1 ORtg, 78.3 DRtg

As mentioned previously, Walker’s numbers don’t pop off the page, but he also is doing this in less than 25 minutes of playing time. He is not a superb isolation scorer but is a solid driver who can fend off just about anybody because of his huge shoulders and strength. His wingspan is also a major asset as he is plus-6 in that category (a 7-foot-2 wingspan) and he uses that on defense to his advantage.

Strengths

He can guard multiple positions and do it incredibly well as evidenced by his defensive rating. Walker slides his feet well and walls off drivers with his strong frame. He has the strength to guard the bigger and “true” centers in the game despite giving up a few inches more often than not. He’s also great on the offensive end with mismatches as he will post up smaller defenders and drive by the slower ones.

2023 NBA Draft

Walker is likely to fall somewhere in the 8-12 pick range so he may be too late for the Spurs to get. But he would be a safe pick because his floor is generally high. The big swing skill for Walker will be his shooting and if he can do that from beyond the arc at a greater volume, he will be a top-10 lock.