MEXICO CITY - To Aaron Nesmith, opportunity matters. The former Vanderbilt alum has found exactly that with the team the Boston Celtics traded him to, Nesmith having carved out a role on the wing with the Indiana Pacers, his trademark style of physical play and shooting a key part of Indiana's approach to the game.
The Celtics Wire caught up with him in Mexico City for the 2026 NBA Mexico City Game, where his Pacers squad fell to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. "We're a team that's very dependent on one another for our success, and we've got to have everybody firing in all at all on all cylinders at all times," said Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle of his import to the team after the loss.
And while the Pacers may not have come back home
with a win for their efforts, Nesmith still saw value in simply making the trip to Mexico. "Even being from the U.S., I didn't get the chance to see NBA players as a kid," said Nesmith. "So for these kids to be able to see us play, it's an honor coming out to their home country."
Opportunity (or it's lack) also helped hasten the end of his time with the Celtics, the South Carolina native finding doors open to him in Indiana that were never going to with a stacked roster ahead of him in Boston.
"You've got to be able to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes," said Nesmith. "People don't get better by looking over their shoulder. They get better by giving 100 percent."
With the Pacers, the opportunity is there, and so far, so has the effort. And with injuries derailing the start of what was supposed to a bounce-back campaign for Indiana, the former Celtic's team will need him to be better than ever.
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Celtics lottery pick Aaron Nesmith on the importance of opportunity
