MEMPHIS — Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin, the team’s leading scorer in the first two games and the preseason, left Saturday’s game against the Grizzlies and did not return due to a sore right foot according to Pacers public relations.
Mathurin scored a team-high 26 points and recorded four assists before going to the locker room in the third quarter when he was ruled out the rest of the way. He appeared to initially suffer the injury with 11:16 to go in the third quarter when he stepped on Grizzlies center Jock Landale’s foot, tripped and fell to the floor. He stayed in the game until the 3:30 mark of the third quarter, but he went back to the locker room for evaluation and was ruled out after taht.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle did not have much more information on the injury after the Pacers’ 128-103 loss. He didn’t address whether Mathurin could be available for Sunday’s game against the Timberwolves in Minnesota but seemed to suggest it was unlikely.
“It’s Benn’s forefoot,” Carlisle said. “They’re gonna see how he is and whether he needs to get imaging done when we got to probably Dallas. I don’t know if there’s any MRI places open tomorrow, but we seem to find them wherever we are.”
Rookie guard Taelon Peter also left the game with an injured groin. The Pacers are already missing All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton for the year with an Achilles tendon tear and they went into Saturday’s game without veteran point guard T.J. McConnell (hamstring strain), starting point guard Andrew Nembhard (shoulder strain) rookie guard Kam Jones (back stress reaction), second-year wing Johnny Furphy (sore left foot) and productive two-way contract guard Quenton Jackson (hamstring strain).
“On paper, we might have 10 or 11 guys tomorrow,” Carlisle said. “We’ll have to see.”
Mathurin entered this season averaging 15.9 points per game for his career and entered the season with the third most total points among all players from the NBA Draft class of 2022. In preseason, he averaged 16.5 points in just 17.8 minutes per game, making 68.8% of his field goals. In two games so far this season, he’s averaging 31.0 points per game on 54.8% shooting and 50% 3-point shooting.