diff --git a/packages/esbuild/src/executors/esbuild/lib/build-esbuild-options.ts b/packages/esbuild/src/executors/esbuild/lib/build-esbuild-options.ts
index 6b832e77bedce..73d7ebb05b838 100644
--- a/packages/esbuild/src/executors/esbuild/lib/build-esbuild-options.ts
+++ b/packages/esbuild/src/executors/esbuild/lib/build-esbuild-options.ts
@@ -288,7 +288,16 @@ module.exports = require('${mainFile}');
 }
 
 function getPrefixLength(pattern: string): number {
-  return pattern.substring(0, pattern.indexOf('*')).length;
+  const prefixIfWildcard = pattern.substring(0, pattern.indexOf('*')).length;
+  const prefixWithoutWildcard = pattern.substring(
+    0,
+    pattern.lastIndexOf('/')
+  ).length;
+  // if the pattern doesn't contain '*', then the length is always 0
+  // This causes issues when there are sub packages such as
+  // @nx/core
+  // @nx/core/testing
+  return prefixIfWildcard || prefixWithoutWildcard;
 }
 
 function getTsConfigCompilerPaths(context: ExecutorContext): {