Subscribe
Follow Us
OKLAHOMA CITY — Before Indiana Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith reached the NBA, his dad, William Nesmith, would drop him off at a gym for early morning workouts with Washington Wizards guard Khris Middleton. Middleton, eight years Aaron's senior, was entering his first season with the Milwaukee Bucks at the time. For William, those workouts would forever change their lives, planting a seed that flowered into Nesmith's promising NBA career.
Nesmith attended high school at Porter-Gaud, located in Charleston, South Carolina. Middleton, a Porter-Gaud alum, took a teenage Nesmith under his wing.
“I have to tip my hat to Khris Middleton,” Aaron Nesmith's dad, William, told ClutchPoints. “Khris Middleton came from the same high school as Aaron. So, he would be working out in the summertime. And he allowed Aaron to come in. So, when I took Aaron to the gym at six o'clock in the morning, he could see, when we got there, that Khris was already wet up in sweat. That kind of let him know the kind of effort it takes if you want to get to this level.
“So, those things, I'm forever very grateful because he knows what he has to do. He is a workaholic. He'll go to the gym. He'd put up a thousand shots. Stuff like that. That boosts him.”
The offseason workouts became a routine as Nesmith grew through high school.
“It was becoming a regular thing as he got older. So, that helped him,” William added. “Khris would mentor him. Teach him little things. And I think it really helped him.”
One of William's favorite games is a full-circle moment between his son and Middleton, facing off in Game 3 of last year's first-round series between the Pacers and the Bucks. After Nesmith made a pair of free throws to extend the Pacers' lead (111-108), Middleton drained a game-tying three over Nesmith, sending the game into overtime.
“It was like a dogfight out there. You would never think they're good friends because they didn't cut each other any slack on the floor,” William said. “To me, that was just awesome to see. Aaron had to guard him.”
The Pacers would go on to win 121-118 in overtime and eventually the series before reaching the Eastern Conference Finals, where an injury-riddled Pacers team lost 4-0 to the Boston Celtics, the team that traded Nesmith two years prior.
Aaron Nesmith ‘blindsided' by Celtics' trade to Pacers
Aaron Nesmith's 52.2% three-point shooting at Vanderbilt caught the Celtics' eye in 2020. Despite suffering a season-ending foot injury in his sophomore campaign, the Celtics selected Nesmith with the 14th overall pick. Still, he struggled to find consistent playing time as All-Stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown's backup. Then, Aaron was traded to the Pacers in 2022.
“He was disappointed. He liked playing for Boston. He was actually out playing golf when he got the call,” Aaron Nesmith's dad told ClutchPoints. “He didn't know. So, he was blindsided by it and wasn't so happy about that.”
From the work ethic veteran Khris Middleton instilled, Nesmith went from his first appearance in the NBA Finals straight to the gym to work on his offense.
Rick Carlisle, Pacers' new ‘humble kid' in town
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle saw plenty of room for growth in his new third-year forward. With Nesmith coming off a trip to the NBA Finals with the Celtics, Carlisle was eager to see how Aaron would adapt to his new surroundings.
“He was a humble kid who had a two-year experience in Boston, where he played some, but not a whole lot,” Carlisle told ClutchPoints. “But he had competed every day with some of the highest-level players in the world.”
Carlisle recalled his first conversation with Nesmith.
“He called me and said, “Hey, can I come to summer league?” I said, ‘sure' and he goes, “No, I wanna play on the summer league team.” And I said, ‘Are you in shape?' He said, “Oh, I'm in shape. I'm ready.” I said, “Well, come on out.” And he came out, and he played two, three summer league games,” Carlisle added.
Nesmith's humble approach as a third-year forward impressed his new head coach.
Article Continues Below
“He wanted to jump in, and it was important for him to be a part of something,” Carlisle told ClutchPoints. “I thought his effort to do that was exceptional, and from there, he went from a guy who was a player off the bench to eventually earning a starting position. Now, he's become one of our really important guys on both sides of the ball. I'm proud of him. He's the kind of guy that any team would want.”
While some question whether the Celtics gave up on Nesmith too soon, his father will always be appreciative of the first NBA franchise that took a chance on his son.
“I'm never ever going to be angry at Boston because Boston picked him up in the lottery with a broken foot,” William told ClutchPoints. “It didn't seem like it was going to work out in Boston. So, I was happy when he came over here and he got a chance to play because I realized when you get to this level, you still need a little luck, and you need to be in the right place.
“You take a team like Boston, which was a high-quality team, and thought they gave away nothing, is the same person that helped another team [get] there that you declared, ‘Oh, they're not that kid,'” he concluded.
Aaron Nesmith emerges as Pacers' starting forward
Ahead of the 2023-24 campaign, Aaron Nesmith inked a three-year, $33 million extension with the Pacers, which turned into a fruitful investment. After averaging 12.0 points, including shooting at a career-best 43.1% clip from deep during the regular season, Nesmith's shooting spiked to 49.1% in the postseason, as he's a big reason why the Pacers are in the NBA Finals, taking on the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Nesmith netted a career-high 30 points, including 20 in the final frame, and finished with eight threes in the Pacers' 138-135 overtime thriller against the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, where the Pacers made a historic 14-point comeback in the final minutes of regulation before winning in overtime.
“My comment to him was, ‘Welcome back.' I was spoiled from watching him play at Vanderbilt, [where this] was expected of him,” Aaron Nesmith's dad, William, told ClutchPoints. “It's not expected of him to be in that role anymore. So, for me, I have to adjust. But he's still thriving. I want him to play like Game 1 all the time. Just look for it, but I'm really happy with where he's at.
“I can't say I know that he would perform, but over the years, he's always been good and clutch. In the last minute, he didn't go away,” William concluded.
WHAT A NIGHT FOR AARON NESMITH ‼️
🎯 30 PTS (20 in 4Q)
🎯 8 3PM (6 in 4Q)
🎯 2 BLKAt his best when the lights were brightest 😤 pic.twitter.com/cbX3q8Ned2
— NBA (@NBA) May 22, 2025
For Aaron Nesmith's dad, watching his son compete in the NBA Finals, years removed from those early morning workouts with Khris Middleton, is surreal at times. However, it doesn't deter him from giving his boy advice whenever he sees fit.
“I think I get on his nerves now because helping him train, coming up, I'm never satisfied,” William said with a laugh. “If everything isn't perfect. It can be off a little bit, and I'll tell him about it, whereas everybody else is just happy it went in. It's just a thing, I guess, with me, never being satisfied because I know his full potential. And I'm still pushing. I'm still dad.”
Nesmith and the Pacers will look to grab a critical 3-2 lead in Game 5 on Monday.
