The New Orleans Pelicans have added a familiar name to their backcourt mix, agreeing to terms with free agent wing Bennedict Mathurin on a two-year, $16 million contract that includes a player option, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The deal was reported Wednesday morning as the 2026 offseason continued to shake out.
Mathurin had been a restricted free agent, but his representatives approached the Clippers about withdrawing his $8.8 million qualifying offer — a move that made him an unrestricted free agent and cleared the way for him to sign directly with New Orleans rather than working through a sign-and-trade or offer sheet process. The typical deadline for a team to unilaterally rescind a restricted free agent’s qualifying offer had already passed, but clubs can still take that route with the player’s consent throughout the offseason.
The signing leaves Jalen Duren of the Pistons as the only restricted free agent still on the board. According to Yahoo Sports, the move also allows the Pelicans to stay below the luxury tax threshold while giving Mathurin a clearer path to unrestricted free agency down the road.
Mathurin, a 6-foot-5 guard/forward out of Montreal, was the sixth overall pick by the Indiana Pacers in the 2022 NBA draft after a standout career at Arizona. He was dealt from Indiana to the Clippers in February as part of the Ivica Zubac trade, and he made a memorable Clippers debut, scoring a career-high-tying 38 points off the bench in a 115-114 win over the Denver Nuggets.
Across his time split between Indiana and Los Angeles last season, Mathurin averaged 17.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists over 54 games. His production stayed fairly consistent between stops, though his three-point shooting dipped sharply with the Clippers, falling from 37.2% on 5.6 attempts a game in Indiana to 20.7% on 3.2 attempts a game in L.A. He was also an integral bench piece for Indiana’s 2024-25 team that made a run to the NBA Finals.
Charania reported that the Pelicans had been pursuing Mathurin for over a year and don’t view him as a one-year rental — the hope in New Orleans is that the 24-year-old becomes a significant part of the team’s young core going forward. That’s notable given he reportedly drew interest from the Bulls, Bucks and Mavericks earlier in the summer, some of whom may have offered more total money over a longer term.
The deal is being financed with a portion of New Orleans’ non-taxpayer mid-level exception, and it pushes the Pelicans to 16 players on standard contracts — meaning the roster crunch will likely force a corresponding move elsewhere on the depth chart.
For a Pelicans team looking to build around a young nucleus, adding a 24-year-old scorer with a first-round pedigree and NBA Finals experience gives them another offensive weapon as they head into training camp.
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