As Bennedict Mathurin prepares to enter the final season of his rookie-scale contract, the Indiana Pacers must learn from how the Golden State Warriors mishandled the Jonathan Kuminga saga. Kuminga is currently a restricted free agent, remaining unsigned more than two months into free agency.
Long before Kuminga and the Warriors' struggle to come to terms on a new contract formally began, however, seeds were planted and dissension grew.
Kuminga was a statistically captivating player during his four seasons with Golden State. He boasts career averages of 12.5 points per game and 20.5 points per 36 minutes on 50.7 percent shooting from the field, raising his scoring numbers to 15.8 and 22.2 respectively over the past two seasons.
Unfortunately, playing time has been difficult to come by despite his scoring efforts, with 2024-25 hitting a new low as healthy scratches became a painfully common occurrence.
The Pacers aren't quite there with Mathurin, but the similarities are unavoidable. Mathurin's career averages of 15.9 points per game and 20.2 per 36 minutes are undeniably appealing, but his minutes fluctuated throughout the 2025 NBA Playoffs.
With Tyrese Haliburton potentially out for the entire 2025-26 season, Indiana must not be afraid to let Mathurin learn by fire and thus avoid Kuminga's fate in free agency.
Pacers must give Mathurin big minutes, avoid Warriors' fate with Kuminga
Mathurin made an instant impact as a rookie, averaging 16.7 points per game. He finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting and eighth for Sixth Man of the Year. He averaged fewer minutes the following season, however, despite increasing his three-point field goal percentage from 32.3 to 37.4.
Mathurin played a career-high 29.8 minutes per game in 2024-25, but one can't help but wonder if his postseason average of 17.5 minutes per outing will come back to bite the Pacers.
Mathurin took it all in stride, producing five 20-point games despite his limited playing time during the 2025 NBA Playoffs. That includes a 24-point and 13-rebound showing in Game 7 of the NBA Finals—the only game during the series in which he played more than 22 minutes.
For that matter, it was the only game during the the entire 2025 NBA Playoffs in which Mathurin played at least 30 minutes—and just the third time in 22 outings that he eclipsed 25.
That's an eerily similar story to how Kuminga scored at least 18 points in each of the Warriors' final four playoff games, including 23-plus in the last three. Unfortunately, he was held out of four of Golden State's previous eight postseason outings.
It wasn't until Stephen Curry got hurt that Kuminga's minutes increased due to the Warriors' need for offense—much as Mathurin's eruption transpired after Haliburton's injury.
Pacers must let Bennedict Mathurin play through his mistakes in 2025-26
With this in mind, the Pacers must learn from where the Warriors went wrong with Kuminga. He isn't a free agent exclusively because of money. He's reportedly unsure about whether or not he can trust Golden State with his development given how it's been handled thus far.
Considering the Pacers lost Haliburton to injury and Myles Turner to free agency, there would be no excuse for not giving Mathurin the opportunity to prove what he's capable of in 2025-26 and thus avoid falling into the equivalent of the Warriors' current predicament.
This isn't to say that other players' development is irrelevant, nor is it to suggest that Indiana should punt the 2025-26 campaign in favor of Mathurin's minutes. Instead, it's a simple acknowledgement of the fact that the Pacers have one season left to determine a fair valuation for Mathurin in free agency.
Barring an extension, he will become a restricted free agent in 2026—and if Indiana wants to avoid the chaos that Golden State is enduring, it needs to play Mathurin meaningful minutes.
If Mathurin taps into his potential and reaches another level, a higher market value should be welcome as an ideal confirmation of his growth as a player. If he struggles, then Indiana must allow him to attempt to work through those issues—whether he overcomes them or sets a lower valuation for himself in the process.
It's an admittedly tricky situation to navigate, but if the Pacers want to avoid repeating the Warriors' mistakes with Kuminga, they mustn't be afraid to let Mathurin play major minutes in 2025-26.