Aaron Nesmith's Hamstring Already in Midseason Form as Pacers Wing Ruled Out Wednesday

The Indiana Pacers are officially putting Aaron Nesmith on the shelf for Wednesday. The culprit is a hamstring issue that has been lingering since the preseason, proving once again that soft-tissue injuries are the undefeated heavyweight champions of the NBA calendar.

If you were hoping to see the Pacers at full strength right out of the gate, you are going to have to wait. Nesmith already missed an exhibition run against the Oklahoma City Thunder with this exact same problem. Despite a brief return to practice that gave fans false hope, his leg simply refused to cooperate for the real thing.

"Underdog NBA reported that Aaron Nesmith is officially listed out for Wednesday due to his hamstring."

This is starting to feel like a frustrating rerun for the 27-year-old forward. Nesmith has a medical chart that reads like a stunt double's resume, dealing with neck, ankle, and leg injuries over the last few years. He even had a recent campaign where he only managed to log 45 games because his body kept hitting the emergency stop button.

With Nesmith in street clothes, Indiana has to shuffle the deck on the wing. That means Kelly Oubre and Ben Sheppard are about to get a very sudden promotion in the rotation. Oubre is never shy about getting his shots up, so expect him to treat this absence like a green light that is permanently stuck on.

For the sickos staring at the betting boards, this completely scrambles the math for Indiana's wing production. Nesmith being out means those minutes and usage rates have to go somewhere. That makes Oubre and Sheppard the obvious variables for anyone trying to figure out player props or daily fantasy lineups for Wednesday night.

Hamstrings are notoriously stubborn, so nobody should be shocked if this turns into a multi-game absence. Until the Pacers give a concrete update on his recovery timeline, expect Indiana to lean heavily on their bench wings while Nesmith tries to get his legs back under him.