Pacers Rising Star Needs to Make Giant Leap This Season, Says Insider

With the Indiana Pacers missing Tyrese Haliburton for all of next year because of a torn Achilles, they need some guys to step up if they want to have any hope of getting back to the NBA Finals.

Indiana made the Finals for the first time in 25 years. Now, they enter next season without the services of their best player and a new starting center.

One NBA insider believes that one Pacers player has to show major improvement, not just for next year, but for the future of t he team, if they want to continue to be a title contender.

The Pacers need Bennedict Mathurin to make a giant leap

According to Zach Kram of ESPN, the Pacers need to have Bennedict Mathurin take a giant leap. He believes that they need to see his full potential next year so they can make a decision on his contract moving forward.

"Second, they need to determine which of the team's young reserves recently picked in the first round --Bennedict Mathurin, Ben Sheppard and Jarace Walker-- is a long-term keeper."

He also believes that Mathurin needs to show that he hasn't already plateaued as a player.

"But Mathurin hasn't evinced much development since an impressive rookie season. Both his traditional and advanced stats hav e been very similar across his first three NBA seasons; for instance, his PER (a stat where 15 is average) has barely bounced from 13.1 as a rookie to 13.0 as a sophomore to 13.6 in his third year."

The Pacers need Bennedict Mathurin to become a more dynamic scorer

Mathurin is one of the few players that the Pacers have who can draw fouls, but he dribbles too much into crowds in search of contact. He needs to make better decisions in that regard.

Mathurin's 3-point shooting took a nosedive in the second half of last year. He needs to improve his efficiency from beyond the arc in order for the Pacers to be a perennial contender.

This past season, Mathurin averaged 16.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game. He shot 45.8 percent from the field and 34 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.