Indiana Pacers' Bennedict Mathurin, centre, looks to get around New York Knicks' Immanuel Quickley, left, and Quentin Grimes during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, April 9, 2023, in New York. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Seth Wenig
LONGUEUIL, Que. – Bennedict Mathurin is paying it forward and in return experiencing a full circle moment.
It was just three years ago that the Montreal native was a high school kid at the Basketball Without Borders Global camp. He was the first Canadian-born player at the NBA Academy in Latin America, where he finished his final two years of high school basketball as a four-star recruit.
The Indiana Pacers guard-forward is now one of nine coaches at the BWB Americas camp – consisting of 63 of the top high school-age prospects from Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean – at Cegep Edouard-Montpetit in Longueuil, Que., that started Thursday and wraps up Sunday.
“For sure,” Mathurin said when asked if it was a full circle moment. “Being in the league obviously was one of my biggest goals and now I’m in the league, so I’m trying to give back and pretty much just go back to my roots.
“Seeing the kids play reminds me of myself when I was playing there.”
It’s not the first camp he’s been invited to this year in such a capacity. Mathurin was at the 2023 Adidas Eurocamp in Treviso, Italy earlier in the month to share his knowledge with young prospects.
The six-foot-five, 210-pound Mathurin completed his rookie year in the NBA in April. Mathurin – the sixth overall pick in the 2022 draft – averaged 16.7 points and 4.1 rebounds for a young Pacers squad that turned some heads at different points of the year but ultimately missed the post-season.
His efforts landed him a spot on the NBA all-rookie first team. Mathurin said it didn’t take long to feel he belonged.
“Being honest, I felt like it was pretty early for me,” he said. “Going to training camp and playing with those guys and I had a pretty decent Summer League.
“As soon as I got on the court with the guys on my team, we started scrimmaging and playing 5-on-5, so I mean, it was fun. It was really fun.”
Pointing to “rough games or having a rough stretch” as the down moments of his season, Mathurin is looking ahead on an Indiana team with “a bright future.”
“The thing with me is, I’m always trying to learn and, you know, I love adversity,” he said. “I love when it’s hard and it’s pretty much what allows me to really grow. (There were some) really down moments but at the end of the year, it was really good times.”
“Championships is for sure one of my biggest things,” he added regarding his goals. “I wanna achieve a lot of things, I wanna be an all-star in my career.
“I’m pretty much working toward it and I’m letting my work decide my achievements, basically.”
His play at the NBA level has made for some eager listeners at the camp.
“I think it helped me a lot,” the 21-year-old said. “I’ve been working hard and, you know, a lot of people know about me right now. But I don’t think it would have been that way if I didn’t play the way I played.
“I think the kids are tuned in a little bit more, you know, to listen to me a little bit more. Which is fair but it really allows me to to keep going and keep working hard to maintain what I have right now.”
Mathurin made waves last summer when he said Los Angeles Lakers star forward LeBron James would have to prove that he’s better than him. He had also stated that he wants to be one of the greatest to ever play.
That confidence, which he says has got him to this point, is something he’s trying to impress on the campers as a key ingredient to success in their futures.
“Well, obviously every kid is different, you know, and some have more confidence than others,” he said. “It’s pretty much about putting pieces together, putting all the things together – hard work, talent and confidence.
“I feel like these are the three main things that you need to have to be successful so, you know, I’m trying to have an impact on the kids.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2023.
