Clippers Withdraw Qualifying Offer To Mathurin

The Clippers have officially withdrawn the qualifying offer for Bennedict Mathurin, Spotrac contributor Keith Smith reports (Twitter link).

That makes Mathurin an unrestricted free agent, allowing him to sign with the Pelicans. Mathurin agreed to a two-year contract with New Orleans this week.

The qualifying offer of $8.8MM had made Mathurin a restricted free agent, which would have required a rival team to sign him to an offer sheet that Los Angeles could have matched. Alternatively, the team interested in signing him would have needed to work out a sign-and-trade deal with the Clippers. Now, those restrictions are dropped.

Mathurin is reportedly signing a two-year, $16MM contract that includes a player option. Under those terms, New Orleans wouldn’t have been able to acquire him via an offer sheet or a sign-and-trade. An offer sheet must be for at least two years (not counting options), while a contract completed via sign-and-trade must cover at least three seasons.

July 13 was the deadline for a team to unilaterally rescind a restricted free agent’s qualifying offer, but teams can still take that route with the player’s consent throughout the offseason.

Mathurin, who reportedly drew interest from the Bulls, Bucks, and Mavericks earlier this summer, received longer-term offers that featured more overall money but preferred a shorter-term deal that will allow him to reach unrestricted free agency as early as next offseason.

Acquired by the Clippers from Indiana as part of the Ivica Zubac trade in February, Mathurin averaged 17.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 28.0 minutes per game over the course of 26 outings (one start) for his new team.

Those numbers weren’t much different from the ones the 6’5″ swingman posted in 28 games for the Pacers to open the 2025/26 season (17.8 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 2.3 APG), though his three-point shooting fell off significantly in Los Angeles, from 37.2% on 5.6 attempts per game to 20.7% on 3.2 tries per contest. He was a career 34.2% three-point shooter entering last season.

A former sixth overall pick, Mathurin has shown the ability to be a dangerous scorer, though his jump shot can be hit and miss. He’s at his best when he’s getting to the free throw line, where he has made 83.8% of 5.1 attempts per game over the course of his four-year career. His play-making remains a work in progress, as he has compiled more career turnovers (502) than assists (500).

In New Orleans, Mathurin will join a backcourt that also features Dejounte Murray, Jordan Poole, and 2025 lottery pick Jeremiah Fears.

Adding Mathurin, who will be signed using a portion of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, will give New Orleans 16 players on standard contracts, one over the limit. Thus, the Pelicans will need to make another roster move before the start of the season.

New Orleans has been shopping Jordan Hawkins to make that happen. Otherwise, the Pelicans could choose to waive-and-stretch Hawkins, Smith tweets. Today is the deadline for teams to use the waive-and-stretch provision.