Bennedict Mathurin’s name is suddenly hanging in an awkward place: still out there in restricted free agency, still just 24, and still trying to find a market that doesn’t seem eager to open up.
That’s a sharp turn for a player who, not long ago, looked like a real piece of Indiana’s future. Two years ago, in the NBA Finals against the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder, Mathurin was the Pacers’ third option. In a series that felt like it was climbing through mud, he was the only Pacer outside of Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam who could create his own shot.
Now the picture looks very different. The Arizona Wildcat was eventually treated as matching salary in the trade for Ivica Zubac, moved once it became clear the Pacers did not want to pay him. And while that deal is looking better for Indiana by the day, it’s still hard not to wonder what comes next for Mathurin.
The problem is pretty plain. The scoring is real, but the rest of the package has made teams hesitate.
When the Pacers drafted him sixth overall in 2022, they were betting on a star scorer to pair with Haliburton’s playmaking. Mathurin has delivered stretches of that upside, including a 17-point-per-game season last year, but the efficiency never really caught up.
The late-season numbers only made the hesitation louder. After the deadline, he shot 20 percent from deep, and that’s the kind of stat that can freeze a market fast for a wing who doesn’t bring much defense or playmaking.
So where does he fit?
One obvious landing spot would be a team that just wants shot creation, flaws and all. Detroit makes sense on that front after the playoffs exposed how much burden Cade Cunningham was carrying.
Miami could also make a run at him if it believes it can get buy-in defensively, whether as a bench scorer or as the starting two-guard on a roster that has been thinned out. The Heat also took a player with similar measurables in Norman Powell to his first career All-Star appearance this year.
And then there’s the option that would be the most amusing of all: a return to Indiana.
It’s not hard to see the appeal. The Pacers are coming off a gap year, and their bench still doesn’t have much wing depth.
Ben Sheppard has clear limitations, and the rotation after the top seven has real issues. Mathurin knows Rick Carlisle’s system, he knows the fans, and he knows how to help this group.
Put him next to TJ McConnell and Obi Toppin, and Indiana could wind up making the Zubac trade look even smarter while getting a discount on the player it didn’t want to pay tens of millions of dollars a year.
That would be a pretty strong piece of 5D chess.
In Other News...
Pacers Two-Way Battle Just Claimed Its First Summer League Casualty
The Pacers two-way competition has already thinned out, and Summer League has done some of the sorting for them. Indiana entered camp with a cluster of young players fighting for limited spots, but one of the early names in the mix is now out of the picture, leaving Braden Smith, Kobe Brown, Jalen Slawson and Ethan Thompson still in contention as the team sorts through its three two-way contracts.
The move adds another layer to a battle that already had a clear favorite in the room, with Smith expected to land one of those deals after being taken 38th overall. Peter had shown enough to stay on the radar after appearing in 38 NBA games last season and spending time in the G League, and he also put together a solid Summer League showing before the Pacers made their first cut. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers May Be One Late Move From Changing Everything
Indiana spent much of the 2025-26 season dealing with the kind of injury trouble that can expose every soft spot on a roster, and the Pacers are now facing the bigger question of whether patchwork fixes are enough. The concern is not just depth, but ceiling, and that has pushed the conversation toward a more aggressive kind of roster work before next season.
One path is the late-summer swing, the sort of move that comes after the market has thinned and a team decides to get bold anyway. Indiana has some salary it could move if it wants to reshape the group, and the front office will have to decide whether to keep trying to build around the current core or use that flexibility to chase a more meaningful upgrade. [Read more 🡒]
Tyrese Haliburton Just Sent A Chilling Reminder To Jalen Brunson
Tyrese Haliburtons latest appearance with Jalen Brunson had nothing to do with the NBA box score and everything to do with the old Pacers-Knicks edge that still lingers. The two guards showed up as guests at a WWE event at Madison Square Garden, where the setting gave Haliburton a chance to needle Brunson in front of a New York crowd, a reminder that their playoff rivalry has not faded just because the season moved on.
For Indiana, the bigger picture is Haliburtons return path after the torn Achilles tendon he suffered in the 2025 NBA Finals. He is expected back for training camp, and while the Knicks are coming off a championship run with Brunson as Finals MVP, the Pacers are still waiting to see how their star looks when he gets back on the floor. The WWE cameo was just a detour, but it was also a small glimpse of the competitive spark that will follow him into whatever comes next. [Read more 🡒]