The Pelicans have landed Bennedict Mathurin on a two-year contract, and the deal is expected to include a player option for the second season.
To make the move happen, New Orleans first had to clear room on both the roster and the books. That came when the Pelicans sent Jordan Hawkins, Micah Peavy, a second-round pick and a second-round swap to Memphis for AJ Johnson and Taj Gibson. Gibson was then waived, since he had been included in the trade to help with salary matching.
Mathurin had entered the summer as a restricted free agent, but his camp reportedly went to the Clippers about pulling back his $8.8MM qualifying offer. That would make him unrestricted and let him sign straight with New Orleans, instead of going through an offer sheet or a sign-and-trade.
July 13 was the deadline for a team to rescind a restricted free agent’s qualifying offer on its own, though Los Angeles still could have done it with Mathurin’s approval at any point during the offseason.
The 24-year-old had other suitors, too. The Bulls, Bucks and Mavericks all showed interest earlier this summer, and he was reportedly offered longer deals with more total money. Even so, he chose the shorter path, one that could put him back on the market as soon as next offseason.
New Orleans had been after him for more than a year, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, and the team is hoping he becomes a real piece of its young core.
Mathurin, a Montreal native, spent two seasons at Arizona before going sixth overall in the 2022 draft. He played three-and-a-half seasons with the Pacers before being dealt to the Clips in February in the Ivica Zubac blockbuster.
Last season, Mathurin averaged 17.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 28.0 minutes per game across 26 appearances, with one start, for L.A. His numbers were very similar to what he posted in 28 games for Indiana to begin the 2025/26 season: 17.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.
The biggest swing came from deep. Mathurin shot 37.2% on 5.6 three-point attempts per game with the Pacers, then dropped to 20.7% on 3.2 tries per game with Los Angeles. He entered last season as a career 34.2% shooter from beyond the arc.
What hasn’t changed is his scoring punch. Mathurin can put pressure on defenses and get to the line, where he has hit 83.8% of 5.1 attempts per game over his four-year career. The rough edge is still the passing game, which remains a work in progress; he has more career turnovers, 502, than assists, 500.
With Mathurin in the fold, the Pelicans now have 14 players on guaranteed standard contracts. Trendon Watford is on a partially guaranteed deal, while Kobe Bufkin, Caleb Houstan and Christian Koloko are on non-guaranteed training-camp contracts. New Orleans also has guard Jaron Pierre Jr. and forward Malik Dia on two-way deals, with one standard roster spot and one two-way spot still available.
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The pressure point is playing time, because there are only so many minutes to spread across guards, wings and frontcourt options. New Orleans does not just need its best players on the floor, it needs combinations that actually work together, and that is where this gets tricky. A crowded roster can create flexibility, but it can also leave a team searching for the right rotation long after the individual pieces are in place. [Read more 🡒]