The Pacers continue to prove star power and expensive role players can be overrated.
Indiana took a 2–1 series lead over the Thunder in the NBA Finals Wednesday night in a 116–107 win powered by its bench. Bennedict Mathurin scored 27 points in 22 minutes despite playing as a reserve, while backup point guard T.J. McConnell had 10 points in 15 minutes and was plus-12 on the court, providing a steady hand to lead the backups.
Combined, the two players have made less than $17.5 million this season.
That’s less than Knicks role player Mikal Bridges ($23.3 million) and roughly $40 million less than Steph Curry, the league’s highest-paid player this season at $56 million.
This year’s Finals boasts two non-luxury tax teams for the first time in more than 20 years for a reason, and for Indiana, it’s been its ability to get the most out of a roster that ranks 18th in the NBA among team salaries this season.
Both Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam are on max contracts for $42 million this season, but after them, Myles Turner carries the third-highest contract at $19.9 million.
McConnell, 33, has long been one of the best backup point guards in the NBA; as a 6-foot-1 floor general, he knows his role, isn’t turnover prone, and gets his teammates involved. He’s making just $10.2 million this season in the first year of a four-year, $44 million extension he signed with the team last August.
Mathurin has been more of a wild card. When the Pacers selected the Canadian sixth overall in the 2022 NBA Draft, he quickly justified the selection by averaging 16.7 points per game his rookie season. But Mathurin has yet to top that scoring average, despite coming close this season at 16.1 points.
Wednesday was one of Mathurin’s best postseason performances after averaging just 11.2 points per game in the playoffs. His stellar Finals performance could add to the Pacers’ list of rising salaries, which the organization will have to reckon with this summer.
Pacers governor Herb Simon has paid less than $10 million of luxury tax in his 42-year tenure as owner but is prepared to enter it for the first time in 20 years to retain Turner. The center will enter free agency and could command a contract as high as $30 million per season.
Mathurin is under contract through next season, which will mark the final year of his four-year, $40 million rookie deal. He made $7.2 million this season and will get a raise to $9.1 million next year.
But Mathurin is extension eligible this summer and it’s unknown if the team is willing to pay him, in addition to Turner and Obi Toppen, who is also eligible and has had a strong postseason. Mathurin missed the entire 2024 postseason due to a shoulder injury and his consistent, but perhaps underwhelming career makes it hard to project an extension for him.
Trading Mathurin and Toppen would keep the Pacers under the tax, but allow them to still re-sign Turner. Yet, Mathurin has the Pacers two wins from their first NBA title and trading away a postseason hero out of frugality would be a tough look.
The Pacers got to the Finals off a roster of team-friendly contracts. But the team’s role players are continuing to drive up the price to retain it.
