Good for Aaron Nesmith

INDIANAPOLIS — Aaron Nesmith is $40 million richer. He signed a contract extension Monday night, one that the Pacers officially announced on Tuesday. The 26-year old wing is now tied to the franchise through the 2028-29 season, barring a trade, and his contract length now matches that of Tyrese Haliburton.

In total, Nesmith has now agreed to contracts that cover the next four seasons at just over $62 million in total. A steal, if you ask me – eight players logged one Defensive Win Share (DWS) last season while making 43% of their three-point shots, and Nesmith was one of them. (Kevin Durant, Ty Jerome, Zach LaVine, Keon Ellis, Luke Kennard, Nic Batum, and Taurean Price were the others). Nesmith only played 45 games last season and DWS is a (flawed) rate stat, so it's very easy to argue both analytically and with the eye test that Nesmith is among the best defenders of that group.

He's a terrific three-and-D wing. Worse players, in my opinion, got more than $20 million per year this offseason. I have said on the Locked On Pacers podcast that if I were advising Nesmith on his contractual future, I would have told him not to take the Pacers best possible extension offer. In the end, though, he took it – albeit over two years instead of the most possible, three.

It takes risk away from Nesmith's future. If he gets injured or looks worse without Haliburton, he's still got $40 million coming his way no matter what. It's easy for me to say what he should or shouldn't do, but $40 million for two years is a lot of money for a player who will have less than $50 million in career earnings when his newest extension kicks in.

"Anything you can do to be a part of this team and this organization for longer, I really just wanted to get something done and let these guys know that I'm here for the long haul," Nesmith said of his decision.

His time with the Pacers has been quite the development story. He came to the team as a former lottery pick struggling to find his way. Many wondered what his rotation spot, if he even had one, would be ahead of his first and second seasons with Indiana.

Those wonders dissolved quickly. In one of his very first preseason games in Charlotte, he showed off-the-dribble pop that left an impression. (I personally clipped many of those players for a social media post not because they were so spectacular, but because it was a new part of Nesmith's skillset). He grew as a rebounder and a defender. Even with marginal-at-best efficiency improvements during his first season donning the blue and gold, Nesmith clearly got better.

Then came the efficiency improvements. He drilled 42% of his threes in year two with the team, then an even better percentage last season. In 2024-25, he was one of three players to reach the famous 50-40-90 shooting splits threshold. None of the three qualified for league leaderboards, they didn't play enough minutes. But Nesmith (1,123 minutes) had far more playing time than the other two players (Jahmir Young played 30 minutes for the Chicago Bulls and Daeqwon Plowden played 72 minutes for the Atlanta Hawks).

So Nesmith was the only real impact player to meet those efficiency marks last year. And he's an ace defender, particularly on smaller wings and bigger guards. He'd be a terrific fit with any team, but his ability to play Pacers basketball is the icing on the cake.

That's why his time with the blue and gold has been about. Improvement here. More minutes there. He's playing, then he's starting, then he's approaching "irreplaceable" at least by the team's depth. It all happened fast, and right after he signed his first extension with Indiana — a three-year, $33 million pact.

I thought that was a safe bet for the Pacers at the time and wrote as much. I have never asked him, but I bet President Kevin Pritchard loved that deal more than some others he has done, and even more in hindsight. I'll never forget him describing his preference to add players who are constantly improving — both because one, duh, players getting better is good. But two because it means they love basketball and love working on their abilities. Nesmith is in both categories.

He's being rewarded for it now with more money, and it's really a story of a counted-out player. Locally to me, it never felt that way. The Pacers, and fans of the team, believed in Nesmith and were, even at worst, fine with the reasoning and intention of the trade that brought him to the franchise.

Nationally, though, there was a perception that Indiana got nothing in that trade, one that sent Malcolm Brogdon to the Boston Celtics. Nesmith, Daniel Theis, and some flotsam came to Indiana. Then, this post hit the internet.

That's Spongebob's yellow hand, and in this instance during the cartoon, he is trying to convince Sandy Cheeks, a squirrel, that he has her tail in his pocket. He does not, but to keep up the facade he reaches into his pocket anyway and pulls out this paper clip and string.

"Spongebob," Cheeks says matter-of-factly. "That's a paper clip, and a piece of string."

Spongebob quickly replies, "No, it's not." Remember that response.

I won't pretend to really know any athlete, even ones I'm around all the time. That goes for Aaron Nesmith. But I really didn't know him at the time of this trade. Now, I at least know him somewhat and can say that the above post was motivating at the time.

It still is to this day. He still has it saved. "Of course," he said when I asked him to confirm that.

"My friends actually sent me a clip today. It was another meme that somebody made a man out of paper clips and rubber bands and put my face on it. So that was pretty funny," Nesmith explained. So, his friends are in on it, too.

Every day, he runs from that paper clip and string. He's channeled that effort into money, success, wins, and a career that is still on an upward trajectory. He's just 26 and will be a free agent again when he's 29.

It's a lovely story of perseverance, and the Pacers hoped it was possible from the start. "Belief in me from the beginning, seeing the potential that I had," Nesmith said of the team's role in all this. "Just making the most of it... this is the place I want to do it."

He got an opportunity and made the most of it. It's Aaron Nesmith's story. When players improve, they get the credit. It's also a Pacers story for them pouring into a player they saw something in.

So in the end, was that meme at the time of the trade even close to fair? As Nesmith signs a contract extension with an average annual value over $20 million, I think the answer is clear. Squarepants said it best. "No, it's not."