CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — The kids know.

Typically, when campers go to the Aaron Nesmith basketball camp at Porter-Gaud, they get pictures and autographs with an affable NBA player. They do it simply because it’s his camp, and he plays in the NBA.

This year, it’s a totally different story, with a whole lot more knowledge of who Aaron is and what he does because of the year that he and the Indiana Pacers had, falling in Game 7 of the NBA finals.

He’ll always be the Pied Piper of Porter-Gaud. But, there is something different when he’s the guy flying through the sky that they have seen on every screen, right down to the NBA Finals.

“Huge, why I come back, why I do the camp, good to put smiles on people’s faces,” Nesmith said Monday. “Interact with these kids and let them know they can make it just like me. I had a kid come up to me today ask if I can make it to the NBA, I was that same kid 15 years ago. Trying to move it forward, pay it back.”

READ MORE | “From Porter-Gaud to NBA: Aaron Nesmith rises as a star, family reflects on journey“

The shooting guard reflected on his season, which ended up so, so close to winning the ultimate prize in basketball.

“Surreal moment. While you are in it, you don’t think about it as much. Now that I am out of it, I look back and reflect on the journey and the opportunity to play on that stage was really cool – a moment I’ll always remember,” Nesmith said.

Always knowing there is room for improvement – that is what drives him. So does the margin of difference between “ring season” and “ringing in his summer in Charleston.”

“Usually, one time a day, first thing this morning- you wake up and its like- dang, you are 24 minutes away from a world championship and you come out on the short side of the stick,” he said. “It is what it is, but it’s motivation to get back to work.”

Nesmith, who in 2023 signed a 3-year, $33 million contract with Indiana after his earlier trade from Boston, works out here at home in the Holy City every morning with local trainer Davon Gilliard.

There are few families closer than West Ashley’s Nesmith family, even with Aaron now living in Mount Pleasant. When asked if they got a moment to be together, and appreciate where they were during the Finals, Nesmith’s answer was, “All business to be honest. Enter a different mental space. They were there for the entire playoffs so they saw everything which was really cool. But, it was all business. We reflected afterwards. Awesome, blessing, opportunity—in the moment, it was work, work, work.”

Now wrapping up a year that must have felt like a cyclone, it’s a good thing he’ll always be one.