The Chicago Bulls had a chance to look into Bennedict Mathurin for their open roster spot, but the fit never really lined up the way the price might suggest.
On Wednesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Mathurin was signing with the New Orleans Pelicans instead. The deal: two years, $16 million. For a player with his scoring ability, that number naturally caught attention, especially with the Bulls still sitting on an open spot and the room mid-level exception starting at $9.4 million next season.
Mathurin can put the ball in the basket, and on paper he could have given Chicago another scoring option off the bench. But that’s where the appeal starts to fade.
This wasn’t the kind of contract that gives a team much long-term flexibility. He has a player option for the 2027-28 season, which means the upside cuts both ways: if he breaks out, he likely opts out and seeks a bigger deal; if he struggles, Chicago would be left with a contract that doesn’t help much.
The bigger issue was what he would have done to the Bulls’ offense. Mathurin is still a work in progress everywhere except scoring. He’s been a below-average shooter, hitting 32.9% of his threes over the last two seasons, and after joining the Clippers at the trade deadline, he shot just 20.7% from deep.
That would have been a real problem for a Bulls team that already needs more shooting, not less. Outside of Norman Powell, the roster doesn’t have enough elite perimeter threats, and Mathurin would only make the spacing tighter for Matas Buzelis and Caleb Wilson.
There’s also the simple matter of fit with the rest of the offense. Buzelis and Wilson need room to develop.
Josh Giddey is going to have the ball plenty. Norman Powell is coming off an All-Star season.
Drop a score-first shooting guard into that mix, and Tiago Splitter would have another complication to sort through.
Chicago could use another offensive creator, but Mathurin isn’t that guy. The 24-year-old swingman doesn’t bring passing or playmaking to the table. He creates for himself, and those looks are often not efficient enough to justify the burden on the rest of the offense.
If the Bulls had been looking at a true bargain with multiple years of control, the conversation might have been different. A deal at that average annual salary for two or three seasons would have given them some upside and maybe even a useful trade chip down the line. But it’s not clear Mathurin would have been willing to sign on those terms.
So while the number was appealing, the Bulls were right to pass.
In Other News...
Josh Giddey Just Became The Bulls' Most Complicated Fit
Josh Giddey gave the Bulls exactly the kind of production that can make a front office believe it has found a centerpiece. In his first season in Chicago, he put up 17.0 points and 9.1 assists per game while also improving his three-point shooting after the move, showing a more complete version of the playmaker the team bet on. For a club that has been searching for order and structure in its offense, that kind of growth matters.
The trick now is that Chicagos roster is changing around him. With a starting group that features young pieces like Matas Buzelis and Caleb Wilson, plus Norman Powell and Nic Claxton, the Bulls are building a setup that does not necessarily need Giddey to initiate everything, and his fit becomes more complicated as the offense evolves. His defensive and offensive numbers suggest there are still real questions to answer, which is why the next stretch will say a lot about how flexible Giddey can be in a role that may ask for less of the ball and more of everything else. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Interest In Jonathan Kuminga Reveals Chicago's Real Price Limit
Jonathan Kumingas decision to sign with Minnesota landed with a familiar subtext for the Bulls: interest is one thing, but Chicago still has a line it will not cross. The Bulls were among the teams linked to Kuminga, along with the Lakers and Trail Blazers, and they had also shown interest in Bennedict Mathurin as part of a broader search for young talent that could fit into the roster. But when it came time to make a serious push, Chicago apparently stopped short of the kind of bid that would have changed the conversation.
That matters because the Bulls have had room to maneuver and still have not treated every target as an all-in pursuit. Even with an open roster spot and competition from other teams, they did not get to the price level those players were seeking, which says a lot about how Chicago is weighing its next move. The front office clearly sees the value in adding upside, but it also seems unwilling to chase it at any cost. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Still Have A Chance To Turn These Misses Into A Win
The Bulls did not land two of the more intriguing free agents on the board in Bennedict Mathurin and Jonathan Kuminga, but that does not mean the weekend passes without a possible payoff. Chicago has been operating with a clear eye on roster and financial flexibility under executive Bryson Graham, and sometimes the value in those moves shows up later, not in the first wave of signings.
New Orleans and Minnesota each committed to the players Chicago missed out on, but those decisions also added to the cap juggling those teams will have to manage down the line. If the Bulls decide to keep pressing their advantage, the opening may come not through a headline signing, but through a trade market shaped by other clubs needing to clear room and reshape their books. [Read more 🡒]