Indiana Pacers: Get to know the 2022 NBA draft selections

The Indiana Pacers made three selections in the 2022 NBA draft, which took place last night. Indiana made a savvy move to get a player of interest and stood their ground with their first-round pick.

Bennedict Mathurin, Andrew Nembhard, and Kendall Brown are the newest members of the Indiana Pacers.

Bennedict Mathurin is a 20-year-old wing from the University of Arizona, where he spent two seasons. He has a 6’7” frame and weighs in at 210lbs. Mathurin fell right into the Pacers’ lap with the sixth overall pick and decided not to make a trade to net any other player in the first round.

He was born in Montreal, Quebec, making him the third Pacers player on the roster along with Oshae Brissett and fellow draftee Andrew Nembhard. His personal bio at the university says he speaks French, Spanish, Creole, and English.

It seems that Mathurin was the Pacers’ guy all along. After his workout with the team a few weeks back, he decided to come back to the practice facility himself to work out with head coach Rick Carlisle the same day.

I am thrilled with this pick, as it seems like Indiana got a player with grit and a work ethic that will greatly benefit the culture the Pacers are trying to build. You have seen the pictures throughout the offseason of the young core of players working out what seems like each day. Mathurin will be right there with them.

His 2021-22 awards at Arizona:

•  Second Team All-American (Consensus)
• Pac-12 Player of the Year
•  Pac-12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player
•  First Team All Pac-12
• Wooden Award All-American
•  NABC All-District First Team

His brother passed away when Mathurin was just 12 years old. Of course, he means a lot to Bennedict.

"“My bro is everything to me. He is the reason why I wake up every morning and just me wanting to be the best”."

The Indiana Pacers have a player who is thrilled to be here and his teammates are thrilled to see him. Tyrese Haliburton called Mathurin via FaceTime. “Just the way we wanted it”, Haliburton said.

Andrew Nembhard played four seasons of college basketball and played for two different teams in that span. He played his first two years for the Florida Gators and finished his career at Gonzaga. He would average 11.8 points a game and 5.8 assists in his senior season with the Bulldogs while shooting the three at 38% on 4.2 attempts.

Born in Canada in the year 2000, Nembhard is 22 years old with a 6’5” and 193lbs frame. He fits the Malcolm Brogdon style of player, which could be a hint to what the future holds for Brogdon and the franchise.

In 2019, Nembhard declared for the NBA draft, but then made the decision to return to college basketball and play for Gonzaga. He would come more off the bench in his first season at Gonzaga before becoming a full-time starter in his senior season alongside top draft pick Chet Holmgren.

Kendall Brown stands at 6’8” tall and weighs in at 201lbs during the NBA draft combine with a 6’11” wingspan. A surprising draft fall led the Pacers to make a trade to move up in the draft to get him with the 48th pick.

The 19-year-old Freshman from Baylor averaged 9.7 points a game and 4.9 rebounds throughout the 2021-22 season. He started in each of the 34 games he played in for the Bears. He is not the world’s greatest three-point threat, but he makes his presence felt inside the arc, where he converts 63% of his field-goal attempts.

NBA.com’s profile on the Baylor forward notes a similar description:

"“Playing a role that resulted in more touches some nights than others, Brown thrived when he could find opportunities around the rim and showed a knack for finding the open man, but has considerable room to improve his perimeter skill level.  Still improving his range as a shooter and looking more fluid with the ball on some dives than others, the 19-year-old is still evolving on the offensive end”."

The Indiana Pacers left the draft with some great new additions to the roster while keeping future assets that may still be in play for trades to be made this offseason.