Bennedict Mathurin Lands $16M Deal After Seeking Up To $30M Per Year From Pacers

Bennedict Mathurin agreed to a two-year, $16 million deal with the New Orleans Pelicans on August 26, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. The second year includes a player option. Mathurin's representatives asked the Los Angeles Clippers to rescind his $8.8 million qualifying offer, removing him from the restricted market altogether, Charania reported.

Ten months earlier, the Indiana Pacers missed the Oct. 20 rookie-scale extension deadline. Mathurin was in the last year of a four-year rookie deal worth over $29.9 million, with about $9.2 million due for 2025-26.

Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report reported that fall that Mathurin was angling for $20 million to $30 million a year. Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey projected a four-year extension in the neighborhood of $95 million.

The extension was something Mathurin would have liked. His approach to the season did not move with the deadline.

"It's not that big of a deal, man," Mathurin said, in comments reported by Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star.

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle had named Mathurin a starter over the summer with Tyrese Haliburton out for the year following Achilles surgery. A sprained big toe on his right foot cost him 11 games after the first two. He returned in mid-November and averaged 16.6 points over the next month and a half. A sprained right thumb cost him another 11.

On Feb. 5, Indiana traded Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, a protected 2026 first-round pick, an unprotected 2029 first-round pick, and a 2028 second-round pick to the Clippers for Ivica Zubac and Kobe Brown.

In 26 games with the Clippers, Mathurin averaged 17.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 28.0 minutes, shooting 20.7% from three. His debut 38 points off the bench helped beat the Nuggets 115-114. In the play-in loss to the Golden State Warriors, he scored 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 5-of-6 from three.

Across 54 games between the two teams, Mathurin averaged 17.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists on 43.0% shooting from the field and 31.5% from three.

The Clippers tendered the qualifying offer June 29. Marc Stein reported this month that Mathurin was talking with New Orleans, Chicago, and Milwaukee. He was one of two restricted free agents left unsigned when the Pelicans agreement came together, with Detroit center Jalen Duren the other.

Indiana's 2026 first-round pick sent to the Lakers was protected 1-4 and 10-30. The Pacers, finishing 19-63 and fifth in the lottery, conveyed the pick and had no 2029 pick, which has no protection.

Zubac missed 14 games with an ankle injury before debuting on March 13. He played five games, averaging 11.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in 23.6 minutes, then fractured a rib against the Portland Trail Blazers on March 18. He is under contract through 2027-28 at $19.5 million for 2026-27 and $21 million the following year.

Indiana had about $185 million in committed salary for 2026-27 at the extension deadline and hasn't paid luxury tax since 2005-06. Kelly Oubre Jr. signed a two-year, nearly $17 million deal this summer. Larry Nance Jr. was a second free-agent addition.

Mathurin will make roughly $8 million in New Orleans this season, less than the qualifying offer he turned down and less than his rookie-scale salary in Indiana last year.

The Pacers open the season Oct. 21 at New Orleans. The home opener against the Dallas Mavericks follows Oct. 23 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.