2022 NBA Draft: Arizona’s Bennedict Mathurin goes 6th overall to Pacers

Bennedict Mathurin is headed to the Midwest to begin his pro career.

The Indiana Pacers have taken Mathurin with the No. 6 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, making him the 16th former Arizona Wildcats player to go in the top 10 and the highest-drafted Wildcat since Deandre Ayton went first overall in 2018.

He is the third UA player to be picked by Indiana, the first since Solomon Hill went 23rd overall to the Pacers in the 2013 Draft. The other ex-Wildcat to get drafted by Indiana is Jerryd Bayless at No. 11 overall in 2008.

Mathurin is coming off a tremendous 2021-22 season in which he averaged averaged 17.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists while shooting 36.9 percent from 3-point range to earn Pac-12 Player of the Year honors. His 655 points were ninth-most in UA single-season history, while his 83 triples were eighth-most by a Wildcat.

A consensus Second-Team All-American, Mathurin was the Most Outstanding Player of the Pac-12 Tournament and a finalist for the John Wooden and Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year awards.

A Canadian native, Mathurin is the fourth foreign-born UA player to be drafted, following Lauri Markkanen (2017), Ayton (2018) and Josh Green (2020).

With Indiana, Mathurin will join a Pacers team that is coming off a 25-57 season but also features a pair of ex-Wildcat guards in TJ McConnell and Gabe York.