10-year veteran and longest-tenured Indiana Pacers player Myles Turner could be a free agent for this first time in his career when the off-season begins.
The Pacers do not intend for him it to reach that point now that teams are allowed to negotiate with their own free agents ahead of the official start to free agency, much like Indiana did with Pascal Siakam at this time last year. Rick Carlisle told James Boyd and Kevin Bowen during his weekly radio appearance on 107.5 The Fan that bringing Turner back remains the team’s top priority this summer.
“I don’t think it’s any secret that for the franchise, at this particular moment, that is the No. 1 priority,” Carlisle said of re-signing Turner. “I don’t know anything about money or numbers or years or any of that kind of stuff, but Myles is a very important part of what we’ve done here, what we’ve been doing. He’s a very important part of the history of the franchise, certainly over the last decade.”
While Turner didn’t have the NBA Finals that he certainly hoped for as his jump shot abandoned him in the series and the Thunder’s collection of elite defenders made it difficult for him to find enough opportunities inside the arc, the Pacers also wouldn’t have made it this far without him. Despite his offensive struggles, his presence was still felt on the defensive end, especially against Chet Holmgren as he made the Thunder’s third best player struggle to get anything going himself anytime they shared the floor.
Turner’s fit on the roster and in the system remain excellent and his skill set is not something that is easy to replace. His chemistry with Haliburton, in particular, has blossomed since the pair was able to see the floor together.
“We constantly are sending each other clips of how we can be better in pick-and-roll, how I can help him, how he can help me, whatever the case is,” Haliburton said during the Finals. “… I always thought in my career I was going to be best with a guy who plays above the rim and a pick-and-roll lob threat. Now having experience playing with Myles so long. I feel like he unlocks a lot of what I do.”
The combination of outside shooting and rim protection out of your center, or anyone, was something that reached the same totals of 3-pointers and blocks in a single playoff run in NBA history, even with his 3-point shot not falling in the final two rounds. OKC changed its starting lineup to go away from their double big lineup before Game 1 in part because of the challenges that Turner presents when guarded by another center. He’s not a perfect player, but he’s certainly impactful.
What will Myles Turner’s next contract look like? Good question. Isaiah Hartenstein, the center the Thunder didn’t want to be matched up with Turner to start the series, signed a 3-year, $87 million deal last off-season when he joined the Thunder. Something in that range probably makes sense for Turner. While he made close to $20 million last season, that number was lower than his average salary in his previous deal because of the uniqueness of the renegotiate and extend contract he signed that allowed the Pacers to frontload the contract with a bunch of cap space they had remaining that season.
It was previously reported that the Pacers were likely to re-sign Turner and enter the luxury tax for the first time in two decades. Does the Haliburton Achilles injury and a season without the team being at full strength change those thoughts? Maybe. They may be more likely to trade away a depth piece in order to duck the tax or try and sign Turner to a more team-friendly contract after he didn’t have his best series in the Finals. Just letting him walk would make little sense, as it wouldn’t put Indiana under the salary cap and the Pacers avenues to replace him are non-existent or minimal—with few appealing options out there in free agency anyway.
One thing that may help the Pacers in negotiations is that there isn’t much cap space out there for other teams to steal Turner away outright. But with all of the trade rumors and the Deandre Ayton replacement attempt that the organization has already put him through, you don’t want to play too much hardball with a franchise legend. Hopefully both sides come to an agreement in the coming days and get one step closer to making Myles Turner a Pacer for his entire career.
“I’m a loyal guy,” Turner said about the Pacers being in the Finals before the series. “It’s always kind of been my calling card, I wanted to finish what I started. Of course, it’s flattering for teams to see your value, want you to be part of your system, but I wanted to do it where I was drafted.”
If the Pacers can reach a deal with Turner, he’ll continue to climb the ranks of all-time franchise leaderboards, already the all-time block leader with nearly 500 members in the Myles High Club, there won’t be many players that have worn a Pacers uniform more than the center from Texas.
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