The Pelicans finally landed the offseason move they’d been waiting for, and it comes with a catch. Bennedict Mathurin has agreed to a two-year, $16 million deal to join New Orleans, giving the team a proven scorer who attacks the rim, gets to the line, and can put points on the board in a hurry. But the fit isn’t clean, and the biggest concern is what it could mean for Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen.
Mathurin’s game has plenty of value, but it also comes with some real limitations. He’s ball-dominant, he isn’t a high-level three-point shooter, and he can have trouble working without the ball. New Orleans is expecting him to be a primary option off the bench for Jamahl Mosley, and that’s where the problem starts for a young second unit that already had a lot of mouths to feed.
Fears and Queen both arrived as legitimate bright spots. Each earned All-Rookie Second Team honors after strong first seasons, and both were on the floor nearly every night.
Fears played all 82 games and averaged 14.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.4 assists. Queen missed just one game and put up 11.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.7 assists a night.
For a lot of fans, the natural next step was obvious: let the young pair run the second unit in year two.
Mathurin changes that equation. He’s coming off a solid 2025-26 season split between the Indiana Pacers and Los Angeles Clippers, where he averaged 17.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists while shooting 43 percent from the field and 31.5 percent from three.
On paper, that’s a major addition for a Pelicans team that won 26 games last season. In practice, it creates another high-usage player for a bench group that already included Fears, Queen, and Saddiq Bey.
Bey’s role figures to stay intact after a career year and because he’s the veteran in the mix. That leaves Fears and Queen as the most likely players to lose touches, and possibly minutes, once the season gets going.
That’s the tension with New Orleans’ current direction: trying to chase two timelines at once. If the goal is to develop young talent, the instinct should be to give Fears and Queen more runway in year two, not less. But from the outside, it looks like Mathurin’s arrival could squeeze them early.
The one reason for optimism is Mosley. His track record in Orlando includes developing young talent and helping guide a major retool and culture reset. He’s shown he understands the value of letting young players play through the bumps, and that may be the best sign that Fears and Queen still won’t get lost in the shuffle.
In Other News...
Pelicans May Have Quietly Found A Bench Answer In Bryce McGowens
After a 49-win season in 2023-24, the Pelicans have spent the months since trying to steady a roster that changed in meaningful ways, from key trades to a new voice on the sideline. Jamahl Mosley was brought in to help guide that reset, and with the team looking for more reliable production off the bench, a young guard like Bryce McGowens suddenly feels a lot more relevant than a footnote.
McGowens arrived on a multi-year contract and showed enough last season to make the staff take notice, especially with the way he handled his shooting and decision-making. The Pelicans are still sorting out their rotation, but his profile fits what they need from a reserve guard: energy, composure, and enough offensive usefulness to survive real minutes while the team searches for stability. [Read more 🡒]