If Bennedict Mathurin wants to guarantee a long-term stay with the Indiana Pacers, taking home the Most Improved Player award next season should help him do exactly that.
With Tyrese Haliburton out with an injury, the Pacers are not expected to necessarily be too competitive next season. They should still be a solid team and can make some noise, but making a third consecutive deep playoff run seems highly unlikely. Instead, they will likely put more of their focus and attention into experimenting with the roster a bit and seeing what they can do differently once their star guard returns.