INDIANAPOLIS — Bennedict Mathurin will play the fourth and final season of his rookie scale contract without knowing what next year will bring. The deadline for extensions on such contracts passed Monday and the Pacers’ high-scoring guard was not among the players who signed an extension, so he will become a restricted free agent at the end of the season.
However, Mathurin said he’s looking forward to the opportunities he’ll have this season as the Pacers’ starting shooting guard with All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton out for the season with an Achilles tendon tear, so he wasn’t concerned about seeing that deadline pass.
“It’s not that big of a deal, man,” Mathurin said. “Obviously, I would’ve loved to, but I’m not worried about that. It’s just about going into the game, going into the season with my mind straight knowing that, you know what? I’m going to have a great season. I can actually be who I’ve been wanting to be. There’s no worries for me about no extension.”
For Mathurin and the Pacers there were reasons why it didn’t make sense to sign a contract extension heading into this season. The Pacers already have a lot of money tied up in multi-year contracts, including at Mathurin’s positions. Haliburton, guard Andrew Nembhard, small forward Aaron Nesmith, All-Star power forward Aaron Nesmith, veteran point guard T.J. McConnell and forward Obi Toppin are all under contract through at least the 2027-28 season.
Each of them is making at least $10 million a year with Haliburton and Siakam on max contracts that pay them each about 30% of the salary cap — approximately $45.55 million this season and approximately $52.3 million in 2027-28, according to the sports business website spotrac.com. The Pacers are set to be more than $31 million over the salary cap this season and just $6 million short of the luxury tax. A contract extension at the level Mathurin would likely be seeking would put them into the luxury tax and toward the tax aprons that make it harder to add other players.
It doesn’t help Mathurin’s cause that he was eventually moved out of the starting lineup last season and that the Pacers made their first NBA Finals run with him coming off the bench. Though Mathurin is arguably one of the most talented one-on-one scorers on the team, Nembhard and Nesmith won starting jobs at shooting guard and small forward over him because they more easily fit the Pacers’ offensive system as it is based on randomized actions and constant ball movement. They are also more established defenders.
However, Mathurin will get more of a chance to prove himself this season as both an individual talent and a fit within the system as Nembhard shifts to point guard to fill in for the injured Haliburton. Mathurin is averaging 15.9 points per game for his career already and averaged 16.1 points per game last season, but he was particularly efficient in the preseason. In just 17.8 minutes per game he averaged 16.5 points, shooting 68.8% from the floor nd 63.6% from 3-point range. Those figures are obviously unsustainable, but there will certainly be more shots coming his way with Haliburton out for the season. A strong year could lead the Pacers to decide to re-sign him at the end of the season or it could make him more of an attractive option for another team.
The Pacers will still have the opportunity to negotiate exclusively with Mathurin from the day after the NBA Finals until the NBA calendar turns over at 6 p.m. on June 30. Once it does, the Pacers will still have the opportunity to match any offer sheets he gets from other teams.
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