Pacers, Bennedict Mathurin don’t agree to contract extension before deadline; what it means

Bennedict Mathurin discusses his progress in preseason camp.

Bennedict Mathurin scored 31 points in Monday’s preseason game and is averaging 18.3 points per game in the preseason

• Mathurin will become a restricted free agent after this season, allowing the Pacers to match any offer from another team.
• The 2022 first-round draft pick has averaged 15.9 points per game over his career with the Pacers.
• Mathurin is expected to start at shooting guard this season, giving him a chance to prove his value for a new contract.

INDIANAPOLIS — Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin did not receive a rookie-scale extension as of the 6 p.m. deadline on Monday, meaning he will formally become a restricted free agent at the end of this season.

Mathurin is entering the fourth and final season of his rookie scale deal, which pays a total of $29,936,173 according to the sports business website spotrac.com. He is due approximately $9.19 million this season. The Pacers will still have the opportunity to negotiate with him exclusively between the day after the last game of the NBA Finals and when the NBA calendar turns over on June 30. If they do not come to an agreement by then, the Pacers still are guaranteed the opportunity to match any offer sheet from another team. Still, this does create the possibility that this is Mathurin’s final season with the Pacers.

The Pacers drafted Mathurin out of Arizona with the No. 6 pick in the 2022 draft, making him the highest Pacers selection since Rik Smits was taken No. 2 overall in 1988. As a rookie, he became the first Pacers player to be named first-team All-Rookie since Smits in 1989. His 1,302 total points that year were the third most of any Pacers rookie in history. He’s averaged at least 14.5 points per game in each of his three seasons and a combined 15.9 points per game for his career.

Mathurin has found himself in and out of the starting lineup, however, as he’s sometimes struggled to fit his one-on-one scoring skills into the Pacers’ ball-movement oriented, hyperkinetic style of play. He’s started 85 of 209 career games but came off the bench for the entirety of the postseason during the Pacers’ run to the NBA Finals. However, he has a chance to prove himself — and increase his possibility of getting a big second contract — this season as he will start at shooting guard with All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton out for the season. He’s coming off an excellent preseason in which he averaged 16.5 points per game in just 17.8 minutes per game, making 68.8% of his field goals and 63.6% of his 3-pointers.

The question of how to fit Mathurin into the Pacers’ long-term roster plans has been a tricky one, however. The Pacers will be well over the salary cap this season and have about $6 million in space under the luxury tax according to spotrac.com. They already have about $185 million in salary committed for the 2026-27 season with about $16 million in space below the projected luxury tax, $24.8 million in space under the projected first apron and $37.55 million under the projected second apron. Any major Mathurin contact could put them in a difficult position.

The roster cut-down deadline for the 2025-26 season also passed on Monday. The Pacers didn’t have any further moves after cutting veteran point guard Cameron Payne. That means they’ll be keeping four centers — Isaiah Jackson, Jay Huff, James Wiseman and Tony Bradley — on the roster for the time being. Wiseman and Bradley are on non-guaranteed contracts so they could still be waived and the Pacers could still pursue point guard depth, but as of the deadline, they are set with 15 players on standard contracts and three on two ways.