Indiana Pacers fans, you’ve never seen anyone score at the rate Bennedict Mathurin has produced points in his first few games.
Mathurin’s offensive output has been one of the few bright spots in the injury-plagued Pacers’ brutal start to the 2025-26 season. His advanced numbers are even more impressive. He’s averaging 28.1 points per 36 minutes. It’s a small sample size, but that would be the best per-36-minute scoring average in franchise history.
Here’s how Mathurin’s per-36 numbers stack up against some of the notable individual seasons in Pacer history:
- Paul George averaged 21.6 points per 36 minutes in 2013-14, the year the Pacers finished with the best regular-season record in the Eastern Conference.
- You can probably win a bet or two if you know Rik Smits led the Pacers’ 1999-00 team that reached the NBA Finals with 19.8 points per 36 minutes, though Jalen Rose led that team in points per game, and Reggie Miller was the squad’s household name.
- Reggie Miller averaged 22.7 points per 36 minutes in 1989-90, his most productive season.
- Billy Knight averaged 24.0 points per 36 minutes when he set the Pacers’ current NBA record for best single-season scoring average (26.6 ppg).
- George McGinnis averaged 26.5 points per 36 minutes when he shared the ABA MVP award in 1975
- Mel Daniels produced 22.4 points per 36 minutes during his ABA MVP season in 1968-69.
Mathurin's per-100-possessions scoring average (36.9) also is one of the best in Pacer history. (The best? Jermaine O'Neal at 38.4 points per 100 possessions, when he carried the load for the post-brawl 2004-05 team that played at a snail's pace of about 87 possessions per game).
What does this mean for Bennnedict Mathurin's future?
It’s well documented that Mathurin’s long-term future in Indiana is not guaranteed. The Pacers chose not to sign the Canadian native to a rookie-scale contract extension during the offseason. Indiana’s decision-makers no doubt want to see if his scoring abilities translate into victories.
Mathurin's per-36-minute scoring average would have ranked fourth in the league last year - just below Nikola Jokic and just above Stephen Curry on last year's leaderboard.
Again, it's a small sample size. However, if the Arizona alum can produce points at anywhere near that pace over the course of a full season, Pacer fans have to hope Indiana's coaches and executives - who have generally proven forward-thinking in recent years - can incorporate that kind of elite scoring ability into the franchise's long-term plans.
One thing is guaranteed: If Mathurin continues to produce at this pace, he will have plenty of suitors this coming summer.