Pelicans Have Shown Interest In Bennedict Mathurin

As Stein details, the Pelicans are one of two teams to show recent interest in Mathurin, who is currently a restricted free agent. The identity of that second team isn’t known.

After being acquired from the Pacers as part of the Ivica Zubac package 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 the Clippers. Those numbers weren’t much different from the ones he had posted in 28 games for the Pacers to open the season (17.8 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 2.3 APG), though his three-point shooting fell off significantly in L.A., from 37.2% on 5.6 attempts per game to 20.7% on 3.2 tries per contest.

The Clippers issued Mathurin a qualifying offer worth approximately $8.77MM in June, making him restricted, and there hasn’t been a ton of chatter about him in the four weeks since his rookie contract officially expired. Reporting last week suggested L.A. would like to re-sign him but is stuck in a bit of a holding pattern while waiting for resolution on the Kawhi Leonard trade. That same report indicated there has been sign-and-trade interest in the 24-year-old.

A sign-and-trade might be the most viable way for the Pelicans to land Mathurin. They’re currently less than $10MM away from the first tax apron, and while they’re not hard-capped there yet, they would be if they offered him more than the taxpayer portion ($6.06MM) of the mid-level exception.

Sending out matching salary via sign-and-trade would be one way for the Pelicans to acquire Mathurin. If they’re able to move off some salary in a separate deal, they could also use the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign the former sixth overall pick to an offer sheet with a starting salary worth as much as $15.04MM.

For what it’s worth, one report last week stated that New Orleans has been exploring trade scenarios involving Jordan Hawkins, who is on an expiring $7.02MM contract. Moving off of Hawkins’ deal would give the Pelicans enough breathing room to use the entire non-taxpayer mid-level exception without going into the tax or hitting the first apron.