Another regular season has gone by and Kemba Walker is once again sitting at home wondering what could have been. Instead of playing against the best teams in the game in the playoffs, Walker is left to ponder his future in the league months before he officially becomes a free agent in July.

When he does, he will have a number of suitors knocking on his door. He would be wise to think through his options instead of simply accepting what the Charlotte Hornets have to offer. The Hornets are expected to have the biggest offer on the table at roughly $190 million over five seasons. Consequently, the most that other teams can offer the 3-time All-Star is about $140 million over four seasons.

Though the difference in salaries is enormous, a team that would love to have him with dreams of advancing further in next year’s playoffs is the recently eliminated Indiana Pacers. The Pacers, who have been missing shooting guard Victor Oladipo since this January, bowed out of this year’s postseason with a 4-0 whipping at the hands of the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. Oladipo suffered a ruptured quad tendon in his right knee and had season-ending surgery to address the injury but is expected to be back next season.

Since he’s not going to be 100 percent when the season starts, it would be best if he had a player like Walker taking more of the responsibility of keeping the team afloat in the meantime. Needless to say, Walker should be on the Pacers’ radar and he could be one of their prime targets in the offseason.

Walker to Indiana makes sense for both parties and here are three reasons why the Hornets’ franchise player ought to consider them over other teams.

3. Both Oladipo and Walker need a good backcourt partner

Oladipo played with an All-Star point guard in Russell Westbrook during his time with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He learned how to be aggressive from one of the league’s premier players, Russell Westbrook, and that helped him elevate his game to All-Star levels. But Oladipo craves for a backcourt mate who can relieve him of some of the scoring burden with the Pacers and act as a leader at the same time.

Walker is the perfect point guard to pair him with. He knows what it takes to be a leader having been the best player for the Hornets for the better part of his NBA career. With Oladipo alongside him, they can form one of the feistiest backcourts in the league. Both are capable of taking over a game on the offensive end and each one would welcome the other’s help.

Oladipo was averaging 18.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.7 steals in only 31.9 minutes of action at the time of his injury. Meanwhile, Walker averaged 25.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.2 steals in 34.9 minutes a night. A backcourt like this would definitely rank among the best.

2. Walker has a chance to return to the playoffs with the Pacers

Coach Nate McMillan is one of the league’s best coaches and he has the Pacers playing tough defense night in and night out. Even without Oladipo for much of the season, they made it to the playoffs as a fifth seed on the strength of their defense which ranked third overall with a 105.9 defensive rating. They were just two games behind the third-seeded Philadelphia 76ers.

Imagine if they have Oladipo and Walker together next season.

The 6-foot-1 playmaker has only been to the postseason twice and it would be quite a refreshing change if he could compete for a playoff spot every year and win a series for the first time in his career. Unless things change in the offseason for the Hornets, remaining in Charlotte would mean more of the same result yearly for Walker. He’ll play well but his team would continue to be inconsistent. They’ll fight for a playoff spot early on then fizzle out in the final two months of the season.

He may be the face of the franchise but a player of Walker’s caliber can only take the losing for so long. It’s time that the world recognizes how good he really is by seeing him play in the big games. Going to Indiana would all but guarantee that his losing days are finally over.

1. Pacers need a scoring point guard

Indiana doesn’t need a playmaking point guard who will always find the open man. When looking at the free-agent field, they have to consider how well a player can score from the position and choose someone who can score with the best of them. Their defense can only do so much to win them ballgames.

If he signs with the Pacers, Walker doesn’t have to change his game since his talent, skills and floor game will fit perfectly on this squad. If he were to join another team with more talent he will have to pull back on the scoring but with the Pacers, McMillan will give him the license to shoot.

With Walker around, the Pacers would have a fearless scorer from the point guard spot and one who won’t wilt when the pressure is on. He has terrific handles and isn’t turnover prone like most players in his position. For someone who has the ball in his hands most of the time, his 2.6 turnovers a game isn’t bad considering that he initiates the offense and he attacks the basket as much as he does.

Walker had his highest scoring average with this past season. He scored a career-best 60 points versus the Philadelphia 76ers in November and very nearly had the game-winner had it not been for Jimmy Butler who swatted away his shot. He followed that up with a 43-point effort against the Boston Celtics in a 117-112 win.

During a 7-game stretch at the start of the season, he averaged 31.7 points with a high of 41. He also had another 7-game hot-streak in which he had a 29.7-point scoring average. This kind of scorer’s mentality is exactly what the Pacers need from their point guard and what Oladipo needs alongside him in the backcourt.

There’s no question at all that if there’s a team that fits Walker the best, it’s the Pacers. He would do well to put them at the top of his potential free agent destinations when it comes time to choosing a team to play for next and the Pacers would be wise to pursue Walker as soon as free agency season starts.