Wednesday morning, the New Orleans Pelicans got their white whale. After a pursuit that dated as far back as the middle of last season, Joe Dumars has finally brought Bennedict Mathurin to New Orleans. The former No. 6 overall pick in the 2022 class is the Pelicans' first big move of the offseason, and they landed him for a bargain at two years for $16 million with a player option for the second season.
Mathurin comes to New Orleans after playing 54 games last season between the Indiana Pacers and Los Angeles Clippers. Across those appearances, he averaged 17.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists while shooting 43 percent from the field, 31.5 percent from three, and 86.9 percent from the foul line. His ability to draw contact and get free throws is by far his best trait, as he finished in the 100th percentile in shooting fouls drawn last season, according to Cleaning the Glass.
The issue is that, to draw those fouls, Mathurin more often than not needs the ball in his hands. With him slated for a bench role, things could get complicated, as the Pelicans bench is expected to feature Jeremiah Fears, Derik Queen, and Saddiq Bey. All three of those players, and now Mathurin, are most effective with the ball in their hands, which could make their fit together on the bench clunky.
The Pelicans bench unit could become redundant
It would be one thing if all four of these players were lights-out three-point shooters, because then Jamahl Mosley's job of sticking guys off the ball would be easier. But they aren’t.
Sure, Saddiq Bey had a strong season from beyond the arc, shooting 36.7 percent from three, but his career percentage of 35.5 makes him far from a sniper.
Queen at this point is a non-factor from deep. While Fears shot much better than anyone could have hoped for as a 33 percent three-point shooter—he’s still far off from being a knockdown shooter. That then brings us to Mathurin, who is the epitome of an up-and-down shooter. He’s seen peaks as high as 37.4 percent from three in 2023-24 and lows like last season when he shot 31.5 percent from three and 20.7 percent in his 26 games for the Clippers.
Obviously, shooting isn’t the end-all, be-all. But it matters especially when you have the spacing issue New Orleans has had over the last several seasons. It matters even more when you consider that none of these four players primed for bench roles are particularly strong defensively.
If things go right, this group has the potential to be one of the league's top-scoring bench units. But if this group doesn’t, it could quickly turn into a stagnant, your-turn, my-turn offense that modern NBA defenses would lick their chops at.
Overall, the signing of Mathurin is still a massive win. New Orleans added a player who can put the ball in the hoop at a high level and is only 24 years old for under $10 million annually. That being said, it would be unfair not to remain skeptical about how and where Mathurin fits in on a bench unit full of fellow ball-dominant players.
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