Why Did Bennedict Mathurin Take $16 Million and a Player Option in New Orleans?
Two years. Sixteen million. Year two is his call. Indiana drafted the bucket. New Orleans bought the create button next to Zion and Murphy.
Photo: Indiana Pacers / NBA.com official All-Star 2024 studio portrait — GettyImages-2006238076 (5000×3333 landscape). Emil Vajgrt / NBAE via Getty Images. Hosted on the Pacers CDN. Not ESPN. Not AI.
Watch the gather. Not the catch-and-hold. Not the presser. The gather — defense closes late, the set is already dead, and Mathurin still has a finish in his hands. That is the tape. Wednesday he agreed to a two-year, $16 million deal with the New Orleans Pelicans, player option on year two.
Two years. Sixteen million. Year two is his call. No split on the dollars across the wire. That is the whole check. The take is what the option is saying.
If you hoop, you already know what a player option is doing. Year one is the money. Year two is the bet. The team does not get to decide later if it still likes him. He does. Longer-term offers with bigger totals and more team control were on the table. He took flexibility instead — the earliest path back to unrestricted free agency next summer. The option is that sentence in a contract.
Action: Indiana Pacers / NBA.com official gallery photo — GettyImages-2008855451 (5000×3333 landscape), Rising Stars jumper. NBAE via Getty Images. Not ESPN. Not AI.
Indiana took him sixth overall in 2022 as a bucket-getter. Last season he averaged 17.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 54 games split between the Pacers and the Clippers, all career highs. Off the bench he averaged 17.5, the most in the league among players with at least 20 games. Then the February trade that sent Ivica Zubac to Indiana put him in a Clippers jersey. Restricted free agency followed. The Clippers had an $8.8 million qualifying offer on him. His reps asked them to pull it so New Orleans could be the room.
The trade is the path. What New Orleans is buying is the next chapter.
New Orleans is not buying a draft-night souvenir. New Orleans is buying a wing who can create when Zion Williamson and Trey Murphy are not the only answers on a possession. The Pelicans chased Mathurin for over a year and see him as part of the young core. Zion is 25. Murphy is 25. Derik Queen is 21. Jeremiah Fears is 19. That is the room. Not a finished title graphic. A room that needed another handler of the ball when the first look was covered.
A wing who can get his own bucket off the bounce is the missing verb. Not another catch-and-hold. The gather. The downhill. The finish after the set dies. That is the skill that showed up in those 17.5-off-the-bench nights. That is what $16 million is actually for.
The structure is the tell. Two years and $16 million keeps New Orleans under the luxury tax line this season. Mathurin gets security without locking into team control for the long haul. If he pops, he walks into unrestricted free agency with the tape he wanted. If he needs the money, he can take the second year. That is a bet both ways. The franchise bet the create. He bet the year.
Do not turn $16 million into a discount joke. Longer money with more team control was available. He chose the shorter clock. That is a choice. Choices on contracts are how a player tells the next room which chapter he thinks he is writing.
So read it the way a locker reads it. Sixth overall out of Indiana. Career-high scoring year split across two teams. Clippers qualifying offer pulled so New Orleans could be the landing. Two years. Sixteen million. Player option. Young core with Zion and Murphy already in it. The gather is the skill. The option is the bet.
Indiana drafted the bucket. New Orleans bought the create button. Year two is Mathurin's call.
Sources
- Shams Charania, ESPN, Aug. 26, 2026: Sources: Pelicans reach 2-year, $16M deal with Bennedict Mathurin — two-year, $16 million, player option; reps asked Clippers to withdraw $8.8M qualifying offer; prioritized flexibility / earliest UFA path next summer vs longer-term offers with more team control; Pelicans pursued over a year; young core; keeps New Orleans below luxury tax this season; acquired in Zubac trade; 17.6 / 5.4 / 2.4 in 54 games; 17.5 off bench (NBA-most, min. 20 games); No. 6 pick 2022; career 16.2 / 4.7 / 1.9 in 263 games
- TSN, Aug. 26, 2026: Sources: Pelicans reach two-year, $16M deal with Canadian Mathurin — same Shams terms
- Sportsnet, Aug. 26, 2026: Report: Canada's Bennedict Mathurin signing with Pelicans on two-year deal — same terms; young-core ages (Zion 25, Murphy 25, Queen 21, Fears 19)
- The Advocate / Times-Picayune: New Orleans Pelicans reach deal with Bennedict Mathurin — local confirmation citing Shams two-year / $16M / player option
- Indiana Pacers: Bennedict Mathurin at NBA All-Star 2024 — official studio portrait GettyImages-2006238076 (cdn); Emil Vajgrt / NBAE via Getty Images
- Indiana Pacers: Bennedict Mathurin at NBA All-Star 2024 — official Rising Stars jumper GettyImages-2008855451 (cdn); NBAE via Getty Images
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