The Pelicans Buy Scoring: Mathurin, 2 Years and $16M

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alero · Indiana Pacers

Bennedict Mathurin

Edad24 añosContrato2 años y 16M$TS%57,5%

Some signings can be explained in a single sentence: New Orleans needed scoring that didn't depend on anyone, and Bennedict Mathurin lives exactly off that. The Pelicans lock up his arrival for two years and $16 million after he hit the open market as an unrestricted free agent, per our feed. Rotation-player money for a 24-year-old offensive microwave.

What kind of player is arriving? One who doesn't hold the ball. Official tracking paints the picture: just 2.7 minutes of possession per game, 3.12 seconds per touch and 2.41 dribbles before making a decision. He catches, attacks, finishes. And his production per touch is what makes you fall in love: 0.343 points every time he touches the ball, with only 2.4 assists. He's not a creator — he's a finisher off other people's advantages.

The Scorer Who Doesn't Need the System

The minutes split · el perímetro · Pacers

Tyrese Haliburton33,6'

Pascal Siakam33,2'

Kelly Oubre Jr.31,5'

Andrew Nembhard31,3'

Bennedict Mathurin30'

Aaron Nesmith29,6'

His true shooting — the TS%, which weights threes and free throws — lands at 57.5%, a number above the league average for a high-volume player. And it's no recent fluke: back in college he shot 38.9% from three on 108 attempts, with nearly half his shots (47.8%) coming from the perimeter and 85.1% from the free-throw line — the single best predictor that a shooter's stroke translates between levels.

As his shot chart shows, his profile combines catch and shoot threes with aggression toward the rim: in college he was already getting to the free-throw line at a rate of 0.38 attempts per field-goal attempt. That combination — catch and shoot plus attacks at closeouts — is gold for a team that generates advantages in the paint.

Our internal GOAT index also traces an ascending trajectory: his best season of the four he has played in the NBA is precisely the last one. This isn't a player who has plateaued; this is one still on the rise.

The Fine Print: the Defensive Toll

This is where an honest analysis forces you to pump the brakes. With Mathurin on the floor, his team was outscored by 3.9 points per 100 possessions this season, across a meaningful sample of 54 games at 30 minutes. And his individual defense explains part of the leak: over roughly 513 shots defended, opponents shot 50.3% when an average defender typically allows 46.9%. In other words, opponents shoot 3.4 percentage points better than usual against him.

There are nuances in specific matchups: he held Amen Thompson to 9 points over 76 possessions and CJ McCollum — now his teammate — to 10 in 44. But those are small samples; the big picture says defense is not part of his sales pitch.

Why He Fits in New Orleans

In Indiana, Mathurin was fighting for minutes on a crowded perimeter: his 30 nightly minutes coexisted with Kelly Oubre Jr. (31.5) and Aaron Nesmith (29.6), and our feed suggests the Pacers are even reconsidering Oubre's future. In New Orleans the role is far clearer: punish opponents off the bench off the advantages generated by Zion Williamson and Dejounte Murray, without taking the ball out of anyone's hands.

The tactical fit

Generan ventajas

Zion WilliamsonDejounte Murray

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Castiga sin pedir el balón

Bennedict Mathurin

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Abren y defienden la pista

Trey Murphy IIIHerbert Jones

That's the tactical reasoning: the Pelicans already have perimeter defenders like Herbert Jones and shooters like Trey Murphy III and Jordan Hawkins. What was missing was a second-unit scorer capable of generating points on short touches. Mathurin is exactly that piece, and at $8 million a year the risk is minimal.