Bennedict Mathurin reportedly agrees to 2-year, $16 million deal with Pelicans

Restricted free agent wing Bennedict Mathurin has agreed to a 2-year, $16 million contract with the New Orleans Pelicans, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Wednesday.

Mathurin, 24, has averaged 16.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 28.6 minutes per game over the first four seasons of his career. He has shot 44.2% from the field and 83.8% from the free-throw line on more than five attempts per game.

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That ability to get to the charity stripe has been one of the calling cards of the swingman’s game since the Indiana Pacers drafted him with the sixth overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. Among 199 players who have logged at least 5,000 total minutes over the past four seasons, Mathurin ranks 13th in free-throw attempt rate; among guards and wings, he ranks fifth, behind only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, James Harden, Deni Avdija and Trae Young.

Mathurin brings a physical, north-south slashing game from the perimeter, averaging seven or more drives to the basket per game in each of his four pro seasons and taking 60% or more of his shots in the lane, according to Cleaning the Glass. It’s a relentless approach that can produce big games, like the career-high-tying 38 points in 34 minutes that he poured in for the Los Angeles Clippers against the Denver Nuggets back in February:

On the nights when Mathurin’s converting up close, getting to the line and knocking down his jumpers, he looks like the kind of one-on-one shot-creating scorer that a team can build its offense around. Those nights haven’t come as often as you’d like, though: Mathurin has shot 63% inside of 3 feet, 41% on midrange jumpers and 33.6% of his 3-point attempts — all below league-average effectiveness.

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That errant shot-making, combined with a negative career assist-to-turnover ratio (500 helpers to 502 cough-ups), low block and steal rates for a wing — especially one with Mathurin’s athleticism and positional size, at 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds with a 6-foot-9 wingspan — have led to the Montreal native grading out poorly by a number of advanced metrics, including estimated plus-minus, box plus-minus, value over replacement…

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Author : Dan Devine

Publish date : 2026-08-26 15:09:00

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