Benedict Richard Felder Mathurin is a Canadian basketball player who currently plays for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Mathurin was born on June 19, 2002. After a successful collegiate basketball career with the Arizona Wildcats, the Indiana Pacers selected him as the sixth overall pick in the NBA draft in 2022. Then after his second year in college, he got recognition as the best player in the Pac-12 Conference and received consensus second-team All-American honors. After not cutting the Olympic squad, Mathurin competed for Canada in the FIBA Under-19 World Cup in Riga and Daugavpils, which took place in Latvia in 2021. Moreover, he is the first athlete from Montréal ever to be chosen through the lottery for a professional sports team.
Career
In 2018, Mathurin became the first player born in Canada to participate in the NBA Academy Latin America. The academy is based in Mexico City. In a victory against Oregon State on January 14, he had 31 points and eight rebounds in the game’s final score of 98–64. Mathurin had a scoring average of 10.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game. He also had a three-point shooting percentage of 41.8 percent. Even though he was drawing attention as a draft possibility, he chose to return for his second year. On December 11, 2021, Benedict Mathurin led his team to an 83-79 victory against Illinois with 30 points scored. He was also recognized the best player in the Pac-12 Conference.
Personal Life
Benedict Mathurin is a descendant of Haitian ancestors. Jennifer, his elder sister, was a collegiate basketball player for North Carolina State. Mathurin lost his older brother, who was 15 at the time, in a cycling accident when he was 12. Moreover, Creole, French, and Spanish are among the languages he is fluent in.