The Bennedict Mathurin Deal Still Leaves Pelicans Roster With More Questions Than Answers

Earlier this week, the Pelicans did something.

One of the NBA’s most sedentary teams this offseason despite finishing the last campaign with a 26–56 record, New Orleans entered the final week of August without having made a single move of any significance. No trades were executed by the Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver-led front office; the team didn’t even add a rookie to the roster, making no selections in the 2026 draft. Minor decisions were made on the margins, such as re-signing beloved veteran DeAndre Jordan and signing Trendon Watford to compete to be the 14th man on the roster. But the only major change was hiring Jamahl Mosley as head coach. Otherwise, the rotation that made up one of the NBA’s worst teams remained intact.

Until Wednesday, when ESPN reported New Orleans intended to sign Bennedict Mathurin to a two-year deal worth $16 million, and a player option for the second season. The 24-year-old wing finished last season with the Clippers after the Pacers traded him at the deadline. He spent the first two months of the offseason as a restricted free agent, but Los Angeles withdrew his qualifying offer on Saturday to clear the way for Mathurin to sign with the Pelicans.

Broadly, it’s a fine deal for a player of Mathurin’s caliber. He’s a young, athletic wing with a résumé that includes multiple 20-point games off the bench in the 2025 NBA Finals and a free throw rate that would’ve ranked top-10 in the NBA last year had he played enough games to qualify. However, Mathurin isn’t as consistent a shot-maker as you’d like for a score-first player—he averaged a career-high 17.6 points per game last year on career-low efficiency as he shot 43% from the floor. That’s a problem when Mathurin’s impact in other areas (like passing and defense) is minimal most nights.

For $8 million per season, though, and for a team in search of high-end talent like the Pelicans? Again, a fine deal. But as the only major roster move of the offseason in New Orleans, it still leaves this roster with more questions than answers.

Pelicans’ roster still doesn’t make much sense after Mathurin signing

As established, the Mathurin signing is decent value for a franchise in the Pelicans’ position. But you’d hope the one major addition made by the organization would clarify what the on-court product will look like next season. Or even what the aim of that on-court product would be beyond “winning games.” Instead, things remain muddy.

New Orleans’ roster now features six rotation players (at minimum) who not just want but need the ball in their hands to be effective: Dejounte Murray, Jordan Poole, Zion Williamson, Jeremiah Fears, Derik Queen and now Mathurin. Of those five names, only one (Murray) is anything resembling a two-way player. Based on last year’s percentages Poole is the best three-point shooter, finishing his last campaign at 33.3% from beyond the arc—well below league average.

Playing Trey Murphy III as often as he can handle will help. He’s one of the better connective wings in the NBA as an elite shooter and slasher who can slot into any lineup to make it better. Saddiq Bey can at least shoot. Herbert Jones will do plenty to compensate for the defense. But as a collective, the roster New Orleans has assembled is a group of ill-fitting talents with far too much overlap in their skillsets.

Assuming everybody is healthy (a huge assumption based on last year’s injury-riddled campaign), the roster boasts one quasi-point guard, two small shoot-first guards, two ball-dominant big men who can’t really play with each other and several one-way wings. The presence of Murphy and Yves Missi as ideal archetypes for their respective positions cannot overcome the jagged fits around the rest of the team.

Pointing out that a 26-win team doesn’t have a well-assembled roster won’t be confused for basketball genius. But teams supposedly use the offseason as the time to address weaknesses. New Orleans has sat on its hands to this point, content with the current group, and the one move it finally makes doesn’t really address said weaknesses. Mathurin’s best trait is his dedication to drawing fouls. But the Pelicans employ one of the league’s premiere foul-drawers in Williamson. Moreover, as a whole, they were actually quite competent in that department last season; New Orleans finished sixth in the NBA with 25.7 free throw attempts per game.

Mathurin’s addition is a reasonable dice roll by the Pelicans’ front office in terms of trying to uncover high-end talent at an acceptable price. If he winds up finding more consistency and puts together the other parts of his game, he might even be a long-term member of the franchise’s core. But he isn’t an answer to the defense or shooting woes that plagued last year’s team—which means we’re once again wondering what the long-term plan is in the Big Easy.

Listen to SI’s NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s YouTube channel.

Add us as a preferred source on Google