There are those boys for whom basketball is an escape, a means of coping with the trials that life constantly throws up on a path already strewn with pitfalls. Just chosen by the Pacers in the Draft, Bennedict Mathurin is made of this wood. The Canadian is a skinned alive, a kid from whom fate did not hesitate to take everything or almost. Now and fortunately, for some time the rear seems to have weathered the storm and can finally begin to consider its future more serenely. The opportunity to quickly return to the course of a player with history far, even very far from the standards.
Bennedict Richard Felder Mathurin has a super classy name. Well, unfortunately, that’s about the only positive point in the first years of the kid’s life. Born of Haitian parents and raised in Tabarnak in Montreal North, Ben lives with his mother, brother and sister. No need to be an expert at the game of 7 families to understand that there is a missing father figure in all this beautiful world. His dad, Bennedict never knew him and Félix Mathurin, that’s his name, will eventually die in 2013. Besides, mom is not much more present for her children, the fault of a huge workload to support his family. To forget poverty and loneliness, the Mathurin siblings quickly immersed themselves in basketball. From the age of six, Ben and his older brother, who were very close at the time, played night and day in one-on-one games on the neighborhood playground. At the same time, their big sister opens the way to high-level basketball, notably by playing in the NCAA first division. Bennedict will tell later that his brother and sister are his role models in sport, and are largely responsible for the passion with which he will make his profession. Hey, a Pacers back who takes his big sister as a source of inspiration, it strongly reminds us of someone. Wishing him such a great career, even if we are not there yet.
BENNEDICT MATHURIN OMG ????????????
FILTHY POSTER @ArizonaMBB | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/zsmcFA9NxB
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 21, 2022
Let’s go back to Bennedict Mathurin, who saw his life change at just 12 years old. Little Ben is then at home, impatient to see his brother again, who should soon be back from school. In the end, Dominique will never come home. Hit by a car while on his bike, the 15-year-old boy eventually succumbed to his injuries. A huge shock for Bennedict, who, beyond losing his big brother, also loses a guide, a mentor, a ray of sunshine in a stormy life. It’s decided, Ben will never let go of basketball again, and will fight to the end to fulfill his big brother’s dream, which was to play in the NBA. Without the support of her sister, who went to study 1,400 kilometers from Canada, the path is complicated. The kid has bad encounters, hangs out with unsavory people but still ends up being spotted by a scout from the Mexico City-based NBA Academy Latina America while still in high school. Whatever, the call of the orange ball is too strong and Bennedict ends up accepting the invitation to study in Mexico. Ben doesn’t speak the language but adapts quickly and eventually spends two years there, before going to university.
When he left the academy, Mathurin had three fairly prestigious university offers. Dayton, Arizona and Washington State. Finally, the Canadian opted for the second option, and flew to the United States. From his first season with the Wildcats, Bennedict shows great things. Athletically, the rear is well above the rest and does a lot of good off the bench. His stats are frankly honorable for a freshman (11 points, 5 rebounds at 41% from afar in 25 minutes). After a successful first exercise, Ben decides to register his name for the 2021 Draft, a name he will very quickly withdraw, for lack of certainty as to his future in the NBA. After a nice break from the 2021 U19 World Cup with Canada, during which the future Pacer and his friends won bronze, Mathurin is back for a season with Arizona. Bet paid off since the kid from Montreal rolls on the Pac-12 to the point of finishing MVP of his Conference.
MONTREAL’S BENNEDICT MATHURIN IS HEADING TO THE INDIANA PACERS ????????#NBADRAFT pic.twitter.com/1ECG8e7e1Q
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) June 24, 2022
Same thing during March Madness, where BM carries the Wildcats to the Sweet Sixteen, before being knocked out by a Houston team yet largely outsider. This defeat therefore marks the end of the university adventure for Bennedict Mathurin, who will have changed in dimension in just two years. Of uncertain hope, the kid goes to the status of confirmed player and announced in the first ten choices of the Draft 2022. Statistically too, the progress is obvious since the rear now compiles almost 18 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Finally, you know the rest as well as we do, Ben is selected by Indiana in sixth position, is very good in the Summer League and even allows himself a bit of trashtalking on a certain LeBron James. A meteoric rise therefore, for a boy with an extraordinary story and whose next lines should soon be written right before our eyes.
Bennedict Mathurin probably has everything to be part of the great stories of the NBA. Hardened by life and endowed with an unfailing self-confidence, this boy could well be one of the faces of the new Canadian wave that is currently sweeping the Big League. Enough to give a smile to an Indiana franchise for which next season promises to be complicated.
Sources texte : Indystar / CBC / Le National
