76ers Rival Loses Key Player to Season-Ending Surgery
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With just over a month left in the regular season, the Philadelphia 76ers find themselves in the thick of the Eastern Conference standings. One of the teams on the heels recently suffered a massive blow to their rotation.
On Saturday afternoon, Adrain Wojnarowski reported that Indiana Pacers froward Bennedict Mathurin will have season-ending surgery. He is having the procedure done to fix a torn labrum in his shoulder.
Mathurin, 22, was in this midst of his second season with the Pacers. He appeared in 59 games before this injury, averaging 14.5 PPG, 4.0 RPG, and 2.0 APG.
This is a tough blow for the Pacers, as Mathurin is a key piece to their young core. He has accepted a role off the bench for them, providing a scoring punch for the second unit when Tyrese Haliburton is off the floor.
The Pacers went all in on making the playoffs this year when they traded for Pascal Siakam from the Toronto Raptors. Losing Mathurin is a tough blow for them as they are now without a key depth piece.
This injury affects the Sixers in a big way. The Pacers are neck-and-neck with them in the standings, sitting in eighth place. Currently, the Sixers have just a half-game lead on Indiana as we approach the final stretch.
Still armed with a pair of All-Star talents in Haliburton and Siakam, the Sixers still have to worry about the Pacers moving forward. They'll be looking to end this season on a high note by ending their playoff drought.
The season series between the Sixers and Pacers has already concluded. Joel Embiid and company won the first matchup, with Indiana winning the next two.
