Indiana Pacers fans already knew Bennedict Mathurin could have All-Star potential. But this season, he has turned it up another level, and the team is seeing it firsthand.
Through his first six games of the season, the Canadian native is averaging 24.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2 assists while shooting 46.6% from the field and 37.1% from beyond the arc. These numbers aren't just mostly career-highs for Mathurin either. They are good enough to put him in the All-Star conversation, which many thought could have been a real possibility one day.
It's a small sample size, but Mathurin would be tied as the 21st-leading scorer in the entire league with Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. He is also scoring more points per game than players like Julius Randle, Jamal Murray, Franz Wagner, and Alperen Sengun, according to ESPN.com.
The Arizona alum is playing the best basketball of his career right now. He looks confident anytime he steps on the court (which is apparently his superpower, according to Rick Carlisle), he is scoring incredibly efficiently and at a high rate, and he is showing great chemistry alongside Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard in the starting lineup.
It's going to be strange this season because nobody really knows exactly how the NBA's new All-Star format is going to work. But as it stands, Mathurin is proving to the world that he is a legitimate All-Star caliber player in the league, and he should be able to help Indiana re-enter the title picture sooner rather than later.
Pacers must keep Bennedict Mathurin around past this season
In the offseason, the Pacers chose not to sign Mathurin to a rookie-scale contract extension.
This wasn't necessarily a bad idea at the time. They have made it pretty clear that they want to avoid paying the luxury tax, and signing Mathurin to a new deal would have made it much more difficult for them to do so. Plus, there are concerns about his long-term fit since he is an iso scorer in a system that relies on moving the ball and pushing the tempo.
However, this was also incredibly risky, and the Pacers are seeing that play out now.
Mathurin has shown glimpses of potential even before this season. Heading into the year, he averaged 15.9 PPG on 44.6% shooting from the field and 34.2% from deep. This is with him coming off the bench for more than half of his games. Now that he is taking on a bigger role without Tyrese Haliburton or Myles Turner, there were real reasons to believe he was in for a career year.
So far, that's exactly what's happened. And it may culminate in his value being even higher than what his rookie-scale contract could have been.
In August, Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported that Mathurin may be eying $20-30 million per year in his new contract. At the time, this may have been an overpay for Indiana as this would have made him the third-highest paid player on the team. Now, this looks like it could be a reasonable deal.
"I think Benn Mathurin certainly wants to be compensated in that same $20-$30 [million] ballpark...I think there's gonna be an opportunity for him without Tyrese Haliburton for much of the season to try to play his way into that number moving forward. I'll be curious to see if there's an extension to come there before the season starts, Fischer said.
The 23-year-old is set to hit restricted free agency next season, meaning that the Pacers have the leverage and can match any offer he gets. Regardless of what his market may look like, the Pacers must bring Mathurin back. He has the potential to be an All-Star in the making, and given that they want to re-establish themselves as championship contenders soon, it is critical that they keep a guy like him around for the long haul.