Indiana Pacers guard Aaron Nesmithsustained a right ankle sprain in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, and coach Rick Carlisle said Monday that the premier defender is “likely” to be a game-time decision for Tuesday’s Game 4.
Nesmith was listed as questionable on Monday’s injury report after he played a series-low 26 minutes in Game 3.
Nesmith injured his ankle midway through the third quarter of Sunday’s 106-100 loss to the New York Knicks, but he returned for part of the fourth after team staff cleared him for action. The injury occurred on an offensive play in which Nesmith threw a jump pass and landed awkwardly. He required assistance to leave the floor and enter the locker room.
“He went back to the training room, got it looked at,” Carlisle said after the game. “Believe he got it retaped. He was doing things in the hallway to get moving again. And then I got the word that he was good to go back in, that he was moving without limitation at that point in time, and so rather than wait, I decided the best thing to do was get him back in there so it didn’t stiffen up any more. And then down the stretch he seemed to move okay to me, just from the eye test standing there.”
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps said that Nesmith walked with a noticeable limp in the locker room after Game 3. He logged just eight points in the contest — his third-fewest in a playoff game this postseason — but tallied seven rebounds for the second time in as many outings. For the playoffs, Nesmith is averaging 15.1 points and 6.2 rebounds with just under a steal and block per game.
This is the second time during the 2024-25 season that Nesmith has battled an ankle injury. He missed 35 games with a left ankle injury and was inactive for the entire month of December, plus parts of November and January.
Nesmith worked his way back into the starting lineup when he returned to full strength and closed the regular season with one of the most efficient campaigns of his five-year career. His four rebounds per game were a personal best, and he averaged at least 12 points for the second time in as many years. Nesmith also took a step forward this year from the field with a career-best 50.7% field goal clip and 43.1% mark from 3-point range.
