Indiana Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin exited Saturday’s road game against the Memphis Grizzlies with a sore right foot and did not return, NBA insider Brett Siegel confirmed on X, formerly Twitter, after he walked slowly to the tunnel in visible discomfort.
Mathurin finished his night with 26 points on 8-of-12 shooting and added three rebounds and four assists before heading to the locker room for evaluation, via the ESPN box score. Teams later listed him out for the remainder of the contest as the Pacers tried to manage an already thin rotation.
Rick Carlisle’s club has battled availability issues early in the season, and Mathurin’s exit only added to the concern. The 6-foot-5 wing has become one of Indiana’s primary scoring options, and his quick scoring burst kept the Pacers competitive through the first three quarters. But when he grimaced and left the floor, the bench had to absorb extra minutes at both wings and on ball-handling duties.
Pacers coaches and trainers tended to him in the locker room while reporters gathered details; the team’s public relations staff later confirmed the sore right foot as the reason he would not return. The club declined to offer a timetable for further testing.
Indiana now faces the short-term challenge of replacing Mathurin’s scoring punch when he’s sidelined, a task that falls to Aaron Nesmith, Ben Sheppard, and Pascal Siakam when called upon. The Pacers will provide updates as further imaging and exams determine the severity of the injury. Mathurin gave his team a lift, then left in pain, leaving the Pacers to hope it’s a short break rather than the start of something longer.
