Wednesday’s Game 3 of the NBA Finals series between the Pacers and the Thunder featured a guy who has been the breakout player of the 2025 postseason–point guard Tyrese Haliburton–as well as three-time All-Star Pascal Siakam and newly crowned NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Yet the leading scorer was a bench player who had tallied 23 total points in his previous three games.
That would be Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin. On a mere 12 field-goal attempts, Mathurin managed 27 points, as he went 2-for-3 from the 3-point line and 7-for-8 from the free-throw line.
Such has been life in Indiana for Mathurin, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft. He thrives as a high-volume shot creator, but plays for a team that operates on a ball-sharing, no-star basis.
Mathurin is capable of having 27-point outbursts, as he did in Game 3. It’s also no surprise when he chips in a mere five points in 16 minutes, as he did in Game 1. And while, maybe, if the Pacers pull off the upset and win this series over the Thunder, the team will happily bring back everyone on the roster, around the league, there are rumblings that Mathurin could land on the trade block this summer.
“I think that’s almost expected,” one NBA GM said. “If they want to keep other guys, someone has to go. They don’t want to pay (Mathurin) so, the expectation is they’ll see what they can get now while they can.”
Mathurin averaged 16.1 points this season, but the fit with the Pacers is specious. He has a salary of $9.2 million due next year, but he is up for a rookie scale extension this summer. The Pacers are expected to shell out to keep free-agent center Myles Turner this summer, but dealing Mathurin would partially offset his contract.
The Pacers are not certain to trade Mathurin. If there is not a great market for him, the team could hold onto him for another year and seek to use him in a sign-and-trade in 2026, when he will be a restricted free agent if no extension deal is reached.
But they could pay a price by waiting.
“Trading a restricted free agent, you’re up against a wall,” the GM said. “You want to make the deal now. And he is a young guy–he is 23 (next week). There will be a good market for him because a lot of young teams see him as a guy you can get a lot more out of in a different situation, with the ball in his hands more.
“If you’re the Pacers, you certainly have to listen to offers.”
The NBA Finals still have a long way to go, of course. But transaction season is sneaking up on the league, too. And Mathurin could loom as a target when that comes around.
