Myles Turner discusses the Bucks’ win over the Pacers
Myles Turner scored 13 points and grabbed four rebounds in the Bucks 134-123 win over the Pacers on Sunday in Milwaukee
- Myles Turner left the Pacers for the Bucks due to a better contract offer and a feeling the Pacers’ front office undervalued him.
- Turner said he couldn’t tell his Pacers teammates about his negotiations because it could have jeopardized his free agency process.
- The Bucks signed Turner after waiving and stretching Damian Lillard’s contract, but the team has struggled this season.
Former Pacers center Myles Turner went on the DawgTalkPod with NBA player Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and host Jordan McGruder and explained why he left the Pacers for the Bucks in free agency last offseason and didn’t share what was happening with his former Pacers teammates.
Turner said that, with the Pacers reaching the NBA Finals and him being the only free agent, he was thinking, “It’s my turn.”
“Prime of my career, prime money-making opportunity,” Turner said. “I was told all year they’d go into the luxury tax. But (Tyrese Haliburton) goes down (in Game 7 of the NBA Finals with a torn Achilles tendon) and they’re singing a different tune.”
Turner said the Pacers’ offer was three-year for $60 million. IndyStar reported the offer was four years, $95 million.
“They were thinking there was nowhere else to go,” Turner said of the free agent market.
Milwaukee’s offer was more … and a surprise.
“I couldn’t tell Tyrese (Haliburton), Pascal (Siakam), Obi (Toppin), T.J. (McConnell) or any of those guys what was really going on at the time because, 1, it’s basically a breach when you’re in active negotiations. And, 2, I couldn’t show my hand,” Turner said. “If I tell them what was up, then, all of a sudden, they tell the front office like, ‘Oh, Myles, you’ve got this going on,’ and that could mess up my whole free-agency process.
“And mind you, this was my first time ever being a free agent — an unrestricted free agent. And I was going to take full advantage of that opportunity. So I had to cherish that opportunity to choose, and I was going to take full advantage of it.”
The Bucks could afford Turner after waiving and stretching Damian Lillard. Milwaukee will pay the $113 million remaining on Lillard’s contract over five years instead of two, a cap hit of $22 million per season. But it then could sign Turner to a four-year, $109-million contract — making it an annual investment of $50 million to acquire the center — as they tried to reload for a playoff run with Giannis Antetokounmpo.
It hasn’t worked out. The Bucks are 28-41 and almost certainly won’t make the play-in tournament as Antetokounmpo has battled injuries throughout the season.
Turner has had one of the worst seasons of his career, shooting a career-low 44.0%, averaging a career-low 5.4 rebounds per game and scoring 12.0 points, his lowest average since his rookie season.
Turner on his ‘Go where you’re celebrated’ comment
In Turner’s introductory news conference with the Bucks he said: “I’m in a city now that wants to celebrate me. And there’s a great quote, ‘Go where you’re celebrated.’ And I feel that’s here.”
He made an effort to explain that comment:
“There was like comments that I said afterwards that people kind of took and spun for their own narrative, whatnot. You know, I’m saying like I’m in a spot that is going to appreciate me now,” Turner said on the podcast. “I was talking about the front office but they in the city of (Indianapolis) took it on them like, ‘Oh, we appreciate you for years. The (expletive) are you talking about?'”
Myles Turner didn’t think he would be drafted by the Pacers
Turner said his dream was to go in the top 10 of the NBA draft and he expected to be picked fifth by Orlando, but the Magic took Mario Hezonja, who averaged just 6.9 points in a five-year career. Then he expected to go 10th to Miami but it took Justice Winslow, who would average 8.2 points in an eight-year career.
“My agent starts sweating,” Turner said. “‘I don’t know what’s going to happen. You might slip.’
“Got the call at No. 11 to go to Indiana. Still a lottery pick. Everything happened how it was supposed to.”
