Pacers' Kam Jones Apologizes For Arrest, Rick Carlisle Defends Rookie

Pacers rookie Kam Jones apologized on Tuesday for his Monday arrest ... but his head coach sure made it sound like he's not the least bit disappointed in the 23-year-old.

Roughly 24 hours after Jones was thrown behind bars for allegedly evading a cop for four miles on an Indianapolis-area highway, he issued a mea culpa for his actions.

He told a gaggle of reporters out at practice he was "obviously deeply sorry" ... and added that it was "a traumatic experience" and one he's learned a lot from.

"Nothing close to this will happen again," he said.

Rick Carlisle, though, appeared to believe his shooting guard did little wrong ... explaining, in his eyes, the matter was nothing more than a speeding infraction.

"The kid thought he was going to be late to practice," Carlisle said. "And so he was going too fast. And I'm not going to get into much more about it than that. But he insisted on apologizing to the team today."

According to court documents obtained by TMZ Sports, police allege Jones was hitting speeds of 90 MPH while in a 50 MPH zone at around 9:47 AM on Monday.

The docs state when an Indiana State Trooper activated his lights and sirens and tried to conduct a traffic stop, Jones "failed to pull over."

Ultimately, Jones did stop ... and according to the docs, he "stated he saw [the trooper's] 'right' turn signal and did not know that I had attempted to pull his vehicle."

Jones was hauled off to jail and booked on two separate charges -- one count of felony resisting arrest and one count of misdemeanor reckless driving.