{"id":513281,"date":"2026-01-03T05:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T05:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/513281\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T05:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T05:16:12","slug":"pacers-notes-potter-mathurin-k-jones-nesmith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/513281\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacers Notes: Potter, Mathurin, K. Jones, Nesmith"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifth-year big man Micah Potter<\/a> only signed<\/a> with the Pacers on December 26, but he\u2019s making a case to have his contract guaranteed next week, writes Tony East of Circle City Spin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While Potter\u2019s counting stats (eight points, three rebounds and three assists) were fairly modest in Wednesday\u2019s two-point loss to Orlando, the Pacers played much better better when he was on the court \u2014 he was a game-high plus-23 in 26 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMicah just knows the game. Plays hard, physical. Kinda just fits in,\u201d Andrew Nembhard<\/a> said. \u201cHe\u2019s a good hooper. He\u2019s had a lot of experience and can kind of just fill in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old got the starting nod over Jay Huff<\/a> and Tony Bradley<\/a> (DNP-CD) on Friday and responded with 16 points and six rebounds in 28 minutes. Indiana wound up losing to San Antonio by 10 points, but the Pacers were plus-four with Potter in the game.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more on the Pacers:<\/p>\n

Guard\/forward Bennedict Mathurin<\/a> had a disappointing outing Friday, recording five fouls in just under 20 minutes of action. He finished with two points (on 1-of-6 shooting), five rebounds and three assists. \u201cThis is the opportunity of a lifetime for Benn Mathurin,\u201d head coach Rick Carlisle said after the game (Twitter link<\/a> via East). \u201cHe\u2019s starting\u2026 he\u2019s second on the team in minutes played. There\u2019s great opportunity here. We have to work at helping him adjust to this level of responsibility. This is a lot\u2026 It\u2019s work.\u201d Mathurin will be a restricted free agent in the summer if he\u2019s tendered a qualifying offer.
\nCarlisle liked what he saw from rookie guard Kam Jones<\/a> on Friday, tweets<\/a> Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. The second-round pick\u2019s NBA debut was delayed by a back injury, but he was plus-16 in 10 minutes off the bench in the loss to the Spurs. \u201cWhen he goes in games, good things happen,\u201d Carlisle said. \u201cThat\u2019s something that I gotta consider. He had a rough start of the season missing two months. \u2026 I see good things. I like his spirit. I like his energy.\u201d
\nSmall forward Aaron Nesmith<\/a>, who recently returned from a left knee sprain, appeared to suffer an injury to his left hand during Friday\u2019s contest, per East (Twitter link<\/a>). Nesmith got two of his fingers taped during the game and was in noticeable pain at times, East adds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fifth-year big man Micah Potter only signed with the Pacers on December 26, but he\u2019s making a case…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774],"tags":[280,7,363,113,126,3866,4233,32137,6,114],"class_list":{"0":"post-513281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indiana-pacers","8":"tag-aaron-nesmith","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-bennedict-mathurin","11":"tag-indiana","12":"tag-indiana-pacers","13":"tag-indianapacers","14":"tag-kam-jones","15":"tag-micah-potter","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-pacers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115829472324182107","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}