Clippers' Bennedict Mathurin Continues to Be a Source of Frustration

The Los Angeles Clippers shooting guard Bennedict Mathurin finished with 18 points and seven rebounds on Thursday against the San Antonio Spurs.

His stat line looked productive on the surface, but peeling back the curtain, there are growing frustrations over the 23-year-old guard.

Against the Spurs, Mathurin conceded three turnovers to just two assists. That is eerily familiar because, for the third straight game, he posted more turnovers than assists, and that has been a regular occurrence when on the floor. 

Against the Portland Trail Blazers two days earlier, he finished with a dismal four points with zero assists and two turnovers in 22 ineffective minutes.

Even in the win over the  Milwaukee Bucks before that, he scored 28, but it came with just one assist and four turnovers. The Clippers are now looking at whether their young guard is a liability rather than an asset. 

Scoring Alone Won’t Cut It for Mathurin

Mathurin has started only a single game so far for the Clippers, but he is logging 29.2 minutes in the 21 games he has featured in this season. 

The franchise took a massive swing at the trade deadline when they dealt Ivica Zubac and Kobe Brown to the Indiana Pacers for Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, and a haul of future picks. The plan was to have a young and explosive player who could add the needed scoring punch off the bench.

Mathurin arrived from the Pacers, averaging 17.8 points and 5.4 rebounds, both career highs. The Clippers wanted depth after trading James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Darius Garland. The signs were promising with Mathurin instantly when he tied his career high with 38 points in his home debut against the Denver Nuggets. 

From there, what became evident is that he can score, putting up 19.4 points per game, but what has also been evident is his turnovers. 

His assist numbers have hovered around 2.2 per game overall for the season, but the turnovers have matched that. 

In games, turnovers have far too often exceeded assists. The Clippers didn’t reckon they would get a one-dimensional star, because with Mathurin, it feels like he can create shots for himself, but finds it hard to influence games any other way. 

L.A. fell to its second consecutive loss against an in-form San Antonio team. 

The 118-99 thud followed a loss against play-in rivals, the Blazers, to undo a five-game winning streak. The usual suspects lit up their box score, with Kawhi Leonard having yet another 20-point game. But the team can’t always rely on Leonard’s scoring. This issue was addressed with the addition of Garland and Mathurin. 

Both players can score but with Mathurin, it feels like that is the only metric for him. 

He will be a restricted free agent this summer. A player who is turnover-prone can only go so far in terms of weighing value. Will the Clippers stick to having him around for his scoring, or do his downsides outweigh it? 

That’s the question the front office will have to answer this offseason.