Bennedict Mathurin wants to help young people make the “right choices”

He was there, in person, Tuesday morning at the Henri-Bourassa school in Montreal, to support this process.

It’s fun, admitted the Indiana Pacers player. The young people are happy to see me in the gym, and happy to compete with each other. It’s an honor for me to be there and to help young people make the right choices.

Coming back to where you came from always brings back good memories. It gave me a big smile.

The NBA player’s career is only a season old, but the nature of the exploits of the sixth overall pick in last year’s draft already gives him the aura of a mega star. And even though he is still a very young man, his advice is very popular.

My advice? Having a certain group of friends who want the best for you, says Mathurin bluntly. Know who wants to help you, who doesn’t want to help you. It can be in your friends, or other people. The sooner you can realize it, it will really help you.

And the NBA is not necessarily the only goal to achieve.

« To be honest, until I turned 15, I thought I wanted to go to college, like my sister. I wanted to do four years of university and graduate. Not everyone has the opportunity to have a scholarship for a full four years. I would have liked that. I laugh with my sister, she says to me: “you haven’t graduated”. I would have liked to have my diploma. People who say, “it’s the NBA or nothing”, I tell them: “don’t think about that right now, don’t go from A to Z. Go from A to B, and from B to to C, etc.” »

Give back to the community

Mathurin embodies the growing popularity of basketball in Quebec and he walks in the path of Lugentz Dort and Chris Boucher.

<q data-attributes="{"lang":{"value":"fr","label":"Français"},"value":{"html":"Chaque fois que je viens ici, s'il y a un match de l'Alliance, j'essaie d'y aller, affirme Bennedict Mathurin. Je veux montrer que même si je suis dans la NBA, je ne suis pas une superstar and the world can talk to me. The time I have, I want to give it back. I want to sign autographs, take pictures. I find that my presence speaks for itself.”,”text”:”Every time I come here, if there is an Alliance match, I try to go there, says Bennedict Mathurin. I want to show that even though I’m in the NBA, I’m not a superstar and the world can talk to me. The time I have, I want to give it back. I want to sign autographs, take pictures. I find that my presence speaks for itself.”}}”>Every time I come here, if there is an Alliance match, I try to go there, says Bennedict Mathurin. I want to show that even though I’m in the NBA, I’m not a superstar and the world can talk to me. The time I have, I want to give it back. I want to sign autographs, take pictures. I find that my presence speaks for itself.

And, somewhat like a Lebron James, is the idea of ​​one day investing in professional basketball a topic of conversation among players from Quebec?

<q data-attributes="{"lang":{"value":"fr","label":"Français"},"value":{"html":"Lu (Lugentz Dort) it’s a good one businessman. He likes it big deals. Me too, and I’m competitive. We are really humble guys who want to give back. We have plans, I can’t really discuss them now, but we discuss them between us.”,”text”:”Lu (Lugentz Dort) is a good businessman. He likes doing big deals. Me too, and I’m competitive. We are really humble guys who want to give back. We have plans, I can’t really discuss them now, but we’re discussing them among ourselves.”}}”>Lu (Lugentz Dort) it’s a good one businessman. He likes it big deals. Me too, and I’m competitive. We are really humble guys who want to give back. We have plans, I can’t really discuss them now, but we discuss them among ourselves.

It could be that Mathurin is just beginning to give back.