Bennedict Mathurin's competitive edge leads to determined Rising Stars win, MVP honor

The Indiana Pacers guard won Rising Stars for the second consecutive year at All-Star Weekend. How he talked a big game, then followed through by being unanimously voted MVP.

Jaden Ivey wasn’t surprised by Bennedict Mathurin’s competitiveness.

“No, not at all,” he said.

When they squared off in the first game of the Rising Stars Friday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, those two were challenging one another at both ends of the floor.

“I love playing against him,” he told Fieldhouse Files afterward. "He's so competitive, and I really like that. Every time I step out there, I want to compete and he was competing as well. He's a great player, very talented and I look forward to playing him on the 23rd.”

Ivey, who now plans to return home and be prepared for his second child to be born at any moment, knew the Pistons face the Pacers coming up. However, he was off by one day. It’s actually on the 22nd of February on this same court, the first game after the break.

Mathurin, like any great player, is fueled by slights and he had two chips on his shoulder — in addition to standing on the pride of representing both the Pacers and Indianapolis in the Rising Stars game.

The first is how the Pistons selected Ivey once spot ahead of him in the 2022 NBA Draft. Then, Fever Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings did the same in the Rising Stars draft among coaches Jalen Rose, Detlef Schrempf and Pau Gasol.

"He was mad at me because I didn’t pick him,” Catchings told Fieldhouse Files.