The second-to-last domino has fallen in free agency. Bennedict Mathurin agreed to a two-year, $16 million contract with the New Orleans Pelicans, with a player option in the second year, according to sources cited by ESPN. Of the three restricted free agents that froze the summer, only one remains unresolved: Jalen Duren.
The Play: Asking for Freedom Instead of Money
The mechanics of the deal are the most interesting part, because it inverts the usual script for restricted free agents. Mathurin's representatives approached the Clippers to ask them to withdraw their qualifying offer of $8.8 million, and Los Angeles agreed, converting the shooting guard into an unrestricted free agent and waiving their right to match.
With the door open, the Canadian chose with one clear criterion: flexibility. The agreement with New Orleans mirrors the spirit of the qualifying offer—a short contract and total free agency in sight, activatable as soon as next summer thanks to the player option—but with nearly double the money and an extra year of security. Mathurin prioritized that path over longer offers with higher total value that would have given the team more control, according to the same sources. It's the bet of a player who believes he's undervalued: earn reasonably now to renegotiate upward as soon as he proves it.
Winners and Losers
For the Pelicans, the move finally answers the question we left open in our review of the NBA West: a project without visible direction finally signs 24-year-old talent with hunger, and does so at a contained price. Mathurin, who averaged 17.4 points with the Clippers, was exactly the prospect their stagnant summer needed, and New Orleans was among the trio of interested teams that Marc Stein reported last week, alongside the Bulls and Bucks.
The losers also have names. The Clippers lose the shooting guard they planned to line up alongside Bradley Beal, though they free up salary cap space following the Strus arrival and gain margin for a project still held hostage by the Kawhi situation. And Milwaukee sees its declared Plan B evaporate: without Watson and without Mathurin, the Bucks' rebuild is left without shortcuts once again.
The summer market is thus reduced to two stories: the entrenched standoff of Duren in Detroit and the labyrinth of Kuminga between the Lakers and Wolves. September will decide.