By admin 
On August 22, I wrote about the two remaining NBA restricted free agents, Jalen Duren and Bennedict Mathurin. Just four days later, on August 26, Mathurin is expected to join the New Orleans Pelicans.
Related: Will Jalen Duren and Bennedict Mathurin Sign With Pistons, Clippers, Or Move On?
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Mathurin is going to sign a two-year, $16 million deal with New Orleans with a player option for the second year. Charania suggests that the Los Angeles Clippers will pull Mathurin’s $8.8 million qualifying offer at the player’s request, allowing him to join another team in free agency and leaving the Clippers without the opportunity to match the contract or collect compensation in a trade.
Mathurin has been on the open market all summer, and since he’s a good player, we knew that he was going to sign with someone soon. Still, going to New Orleans is a bit of a surprise, as they were not a team necessarily connected with him during free agency.
But it’s a great move by the Pelicans front office, led by Joe Dumars, and one that is designed to help the team make the playoffs next year.
Could the Pelicans Be a Playoff Team?
The Pelicans have missed the playoffs the last two seasons, winning just 21 and 26 games in 2024-25 and 2025-26, respectively.
Last year, the Pelicans had a poor start to the year and canned former head coach Willie Green, promoting James Borrego to interim head coach. But he, too, was let go, as the Pelicans never really found their footing, finishing 11th in the NBA Western Conference.
This offseason, the Pelicans hired former Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley to a five-year contract to become the team’s new head coach. They have also resisted calls to trade for players such as Trey Murphy III and Herbert Jones.
That leads me to believe that the Pelicans believe they can make a playoff push next season.
Given how poorly New Orleans has played the last two seasons, it’s a bit surprising that the team thinks they can get back into the playoffs so soon, but when you think about it, it makes sense.
The NBA has new lottery rules being implemented this coming season, where the bottom-three teams in the league are actually punished by getting fewer ping-pong balls in the NBA draft lottery. So, there is less of an incentive to tank and more of an incentive to win, as the teams in the Play-In Tournament (the 7th to 10th seeds in each conference) still get a chance to win the lottery.
Therefore, instead of tanking, it makes far more sense to aim for the playoffs or at least the Play-In Tournament, and that appears to be New Orleans’s goal with this surprise signing of Mathurin to a two-year deal.
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Pelicans Lineup With Bennedict Mathurin
Here’s what the Pelicans’ lineup looks like this coming season with Mathurin in it:
PG: Dejounte Murray
SG: Trey Murphy III
SF: Bennedict Mathurin
PF: Zion Williamson
C: Derik Queen
Bench: Jeremiah Fears, Saddiq Bey, Yves Missi, Herbert Jones, Jordan Poole, Karlo Matkovic, Jordan Hawkins, Mitch Peavy, Jaron Pierce Jr., Trendon Watford, DeAndre Jordan
While far from an elite team in the Western Conference, this is certainly a team that can make a playoff push, or at least aim for a spot in the Play-In Tournament, if their players stay healthy.
Last year, Murray, the team’s former All-Star point guard, only played in 14 games, so getting him back for a full season is massive.
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Williamson, who has dealt with health and weight issues throughout his entire NBA career since being taken 1st overall in 2019, played in 62 games this season. If he can play a similar number of games next year, it would be huge for the Pelicans.
Murphy is a really good player, too, and should be in line for another 20+ PPG year. Jones is a solid defender. Queen and Fears both had solid rookie seasons, and the team added to its bench with the signing of Watford, an underrated depth player.
Do I expect the Pelicans to be a shoo-in to make the playoffs next year? I don’t, because the top six seeds in the Western Conference are already basically taken by the elite teams.
But I do think they have a really good chance of making it to the Play-In Tournament and at least fighting for that 7th or 8th playoff seed and getting back into the dance.
Signing Mathurin is the right first step towards that. Now, let’s see what else the Pelicans have in store ahead of the upcoming NBA season.
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This story was originally published August 26, 2026 at 3:03 PM.