Pacers Notes: Jones, Turner, Mathurin, Nesmith

After being arrested on Monday for alleged erratic driving, Pacers rookie Kam Jones was determined to apologize, both to his team and to the public, writes Dustin Dopirak of the Indy Star.

“I’m deeply sorry to the Pacers organization and the fans,” Jones said. “This was a very, very traumatic experience for me. I’ve never been through anything like this, but definitely a mistake that I’ve learned from. … It won’t happen again. I’m deeply sorry to the organization and I’m looking forward to letting this one go past and get back to work.”

It was later reported that Jones claimed to be late getting to practice, though Dopirak clarifies that while the Pacers did not hold practice on Monday, Jones was on his way to the team facility for treatment and rehab on the back injury that has prevented him from participating in preseason.

Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle backed Jones publicly, saying that the rookie was insistent on making his apologies and vouching for his character, which Carlisle described as “exemplary.”

“My feeling is that this is going to turn out to be a speeding ticket and probably not much more,” Carlisle said. “The kid thought he was going to be late to practice so he was going too fast. I’m not going to get into much more about it than that.”

We have more from the Pacers:

• Myles Turner didn’t expect to be changing teams when this summer began, writes Eric Nehm for The Athletic. “I thought that we would be on the same page in terms of where I’m at in my career, being 29 years old, heading into my prime and just knowing what I wanted from this next contract,” Turner said. “But we, unfortunately, just weren’t aligned. It was a surprise because I had a great, great conversation with the front office before I left, and I really thought that we were aligned for the future. So, it was kind of a shock that our heads weren’t together.” Nehm reports that the Pacers’ offers to Turner were capped at three years and never exceeded $22MM per year. Underwhelmed by the offers, Turner and his agent began looking around the league at a potential next destination, leading to him becoming the newest starting center for the Bucks.
• Bennedict Mathurin was one of 12 eligible players to not sign a rookie-scale extension by Monday’s deadline, but he’s not letting that get to him, Dopirak writes in a separate article. “It’s not that big of a deal, man,” Mathurin said. “Obviously, I would’ve loved to, but I’m not worried about that. It’s just about going into the game, going into the season with my mind straight knowing that, you know what? I’m going to have a great season. I can actually be who I’ve been wanting to be.” It was largely believed that Mathurin was unlikely to receive an extension, given the multitude of higher-value contracts already on the roster. This season, he will have an opportunity to show Indiana and the league who he can be with a bigger opportunity.
• After being widely viewed as an afterthought to start his career with the Celtics, Aaron Nesmith is more appreciative of his spot with the Pacers than ever after signing a two-year extension to stay with the team, Dopirak writes. “It’s awesome,” Nesmith said. “Second contract is a big deal for a lot of guys and for this one, it was really, like I said, just really stamping that I want to bring a championship to this city and continue to build this thing up. That was all this deal was about.” Rick Carlisle spoke warmly about the deal, saying, “He’s a proven starter on a championship-caliber team. The opportunity to keep him in the fold for an additional two years is a great event for the franchise. Happy for him. Happy for the organization.”