Let me take you back to the ancient time of May 19, 2024. The 2024 Eastern Conference Semifinals between the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks just concluded. The Pacers booked their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals and a date with the Boston Celtics after dispatching the Knicks with an all-time great shooting performance in Game 7.

If you are a Pacers fan, like myself, you most likely celebrated for the rest of the day after seeing your team get its first taste of playoff success in a decade, led by your newly All-NBA point guard and All-Star midseason acquisition who picked up the slack in times of need. However, if you are a Knicks fan, you most likely complained about a multitude of injuries to key players. That was the theme that most Pacers detractors took into the offseason: Indiana would not have made it that far in the playoffs without injuries to the Bucks and Knicks.

“I think the response and the view on us as a group after having success last year … like that it was a little bit of a fluke in some people’s minds, is a big motivation and a big irritation,” Haliburton said at the team’s media day.

However, one man on the Pacers, whom everyone seemed to collectively forget, was also injured and is now making teams pay for it. I’d like you to join the New York Knicks in refamiliarizing yourself with Bennedict Mathurin.

After missing the final 19 games of the 2023-24 season and the entirety of the 2024 playoffs due to a torn labrum in his right shoulder, Bennedict Mathurin entered the 2024-25 season at a crossroads. The Pacers made it to the Conference Finals without him, and with a newly minted extension to Andrew Nembhard, it felt within the realm of possibility that Mathurin could end up on the chopping block in a future consolidation trade. Because of this new competition in the backcourt and on the wings, Mathurin needed to enter the season with renewed energy and desire to shut down any doubters.

“He likes to have a fire lit under him,” Pacers GM Chad Buchanan said via Setting the Pace this summer. “Sometimes maybe he might twist words that are said about him a little bit, because it helps drive him. I love that. Kobe used to do that. MJ used to do that. I think Benn is always looking for a little edge. He’s always been kind of the underdog in his mind. He wants other people to kind of like—he doesn’t want people telling him he’s great. He doesn’t like that.”

So far, Mathurin is not only delivering on those expectations but blowing them out of the water and kicking dust on them for good measure. Through the first 10 games of the season, Bennedict Mathurin is averaging 19.4 points per game, 6.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.3 steals on ultra-efficient splits of 55.3/50/80.3. As it stands through 10 games, it would be a career high in every statistical category except for assists and free-throw percentage. If you look only at Mathurin’s five games played as a starter, he is averaging 23 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists on even more impressive splits of 55.1/60/81.8, which would make him far and away the team’s leading scorer.

Head coach Rick Carlisle, when asked if anything changed in Mathurin’s shot mechanics after he hit 7 of 9 from deep in Sunday’s victory over the Knicks, went in depth about how he’s improved and made adjustments.

“He’s taking better shots,” said Carlisle. “And if you want to call that mechanics, if you take better shots, your mechanics are going to look a hell of a lot better; his spacing is better. His recognition on drives. Last year, he ended up in crowds a lot, and the whistle wasn’t blowing, especially in the second half of the year when they started calling the game differently. He’s made those adjustments. And he’s a third-year player that’s becoming more experienced and is reading the game better.”

In both a rematch of the 2024 Conference Semifinals and of Indiana’s second game of the season, where they were embarrassed on national television, Mathurin met the moment. Playing a game-high 41 minutes, Mathurin lit up the Knicks for a career-high 38 points on 13/18 from the field, 7/9 from deep, and 5/6 from the free throw line, combining that with eight rebounds, two assists, and a block to help drag Indiana to a 132-121 victory over the New York Knicks. In the fourth quarter, Mathurin’s 11 points, specifically his soaring putback off a missed Pascal Siakam three-pointer to increase Indiana’s lead to eight with less than four minutes left, helped seal the game for the boys in blue and gold.

“He’s playing great,” Carlisle said. “The one thing I got on him about early in the game was (that) he was trotting and not sprinting, and he made the adjustment, and he started sprinting up the floor and flattening their defense, and when he gets it going like he did today, he’s a bucket. He’s gonna be a bucket.”

“Bucket” may be the perfect word to describe the third-year man out of Arizona. Ever since injuries harpooned Indiana’s depth on the wings, with Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith missing time until December, Mathurin’s insertion into the starting lineup has worked like gangbusters, with Indiana holding a 3-2 record when he starts compared to a 2-3 record when he comes off the bench. Indiana’s four-point improvement in offensive rating and three-point improvement in net rating suggests that Mathurin’s starting role may not be temporary. After all, if he keeps this production up, and the Pacers string some wins together, it may be an unwise decision to demote him back to the bench once Nesmith and Nembhard return from the inactive list.

“It just feels like it’s part of the offense. I think that’s where his growth is going to come from,” Pascal Siakam said of Mathurin after his career-best performance, “just finding ways to be the killer that he is within what we do. I think tonight was the perfect example of that, just getting the shots that are there. If it’s not there, just continue to play. He’s a special player, man. When he’s got it going the way he got it going today, you’ve just got to keep feeding him the ball.”

Fitting into the system and still being himself next to Haliburton hasn’t always been a clean, easy fit since being drafted sixth overall in 2022, his numbers dipped into year two as he tried to make the adjustment to better suit the team needs.

“Bennedict has a certain style of game that’s very helpful to us on a lot of nights, but it doesn’t always fit cleanly with the way the rest of the guys play,” Buchanan said on Setting the Pace this summer. “Trying to mesh those two styles together is something that’s going to take some time. There’s nights where you just need a guy that’s just going to blow his way to the rim and get a foul and get a bucket. The rest of the guys, we’re really moving the ball, making quick decisions. Guys don’t hold the ball very long, where Bennedict’s kind of learning to play that way. I think he knows that’s something he’s got to learn to kind of adapt to the way the rest of the guys are playing. And we’ve challenged him on that. He knows that’s something he’s got to add to his game, is making quick decisions.”

Carlisle has noticed how he’s starting to figure that out, finding his opportunities within the offense and not stopping the flow and ball movement of the group by making quicker decisions.

“Up until that (New York) game, it hasn’t always been a perfect fit with (Tyrese) and Benn,” Carlisle said on 107.5 The Fan after the duo became the first Pacers players to each score 35 points or more in the same game, “but I love the fact that Benn keeps bringing his game closer to the way our team plays.”

One of Mathurin’s biggest criticisms before this season was his efficiency and consistency. One night, he could give you 30 points on 14 shots, and the next night, you could get seven points on 14 shots. This season that has not been a concern, as Mathurin has averaged 24.2 points on incredible efficiency in his last six games scored 20 or more points in five games and ranks first on the Pacers and eighth in the entire league in true shooting percentage at an incredible 68.9%. If this trend keeps up for another month and the Pacers win more games, why divert from it? It may be time for Pacers fans to get used to seeing Bennedict Mathurin and Tyrese Haliburton man Indiana’s starting frontcourt consistently for the first time since the 2022-23 season, and it may be time for NBA fans to buckle up for the next high-scoring two-guard in the league, akin to Dwyane Wade or Victor Oladipo before him.

Tyrese Haliburton certainly seems to agree. After Mathurin’s bonanza against New York, he stated, “Obviously, having to sit last year and wanting to be on the floor to experience that with us on the floor, it’s tough not having him out there. I think he’s just answered the bell and been ready to play. You guys know who he is, how hard he works, and how good of a scorer and player he is. He’s just doing what he does, honestly. It’s not a surprise to anybody in the locker room. I think he’s just playing the right way, and it’s part of the growth of him as a player. And this isn’t a shock or a surprise by any means.”

Perhaps that growth as a player warrants a full-time starting spot? Who knows? For now, Pacers fans can rejoice in a resounding win over their biggest rivals and in hope for one of the fan favorites on the team.

“I know next year Rick keeps talking about the challenge of earning my spot as a starter,” Mathurin said at his exit interview after last season. “Obviously it’s not going to come easy but I’m a competitor … I’ll outwork everybody. That’s how I got here. I’m just excited about what’s coming.”