INDIANAPOLIS -- Aaron Nesmith is still driven by the extent to which he was an afterthought in Boston, taken with the No. 14 pick in the 2020 NBA draft only to be buried behind Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown at the wing spots.

He still has the Twitter post saved on his phone from the Bleacher Report account from when the Celtics traded Nesmith to the Pacers in the summer of 2022 as part of a five-player package along with draft picks for guard Malcolm Brogdon. It included a still frame of the cartoon character Spongebob Squarepants holding a piece of string and a paper clip captioned, "What the Celtics gave up for Brogdon."

Those memories make it even more meaningful when Nesmith is reminded of his value to the Pacers as he was Monday night when they agreed to tack on two more years

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