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Myles Turner on leaving Indiana: 'At the end of the day it's not a Cinderella story'
Myles Turner on leaving Indiana: ‘At the end of the day, bro, it's not a Cinderella story, you know what I mean? I think that's what how people are trying to form this and though I think the way I viewed it is I wanted to be thankful, for just the people that rock with me the entire time, my 10-year journey in Indiana, but also let them realize that at this time I didn't made the best decision for my family made the best decision for me and myself going into my prime, and this is how I saw fit. Kyrie Irving: Wait, so there's a better version of Myles Turner? Myles Turner: Absolutely, I'm evolving.
Myles Turner posted a long, heartfelt goodbye to Indiana and the Pacers organization on Instagram Thursday night. Below is the entire goodbye in its entirety: 10 years. One jersey. One city. It’s hard to put into words what the past 10 seasons and past 10 years of my life has meant to me… From a teenager out of Bedford, Texas to the MAN and player I am today, Indy has been home through it all. You watched me grow up—on and off the court. Just like you I put my hard hat on clocked in & clocked out every single day… Throughout the years I put my personal pride & ego to the side and sacrificed many parts of myself and my livelihood for the betterment and advancement of this organization. I NEVER took the easy way out, I took the criticism on the chin, bit my tongue to complain and just kept my head down and grinded through it all and in the end… it was ALL so worth it!
Bobby Marks: Huff has 3 years left on his contract $2.3M, $2.7M and $3M The last year is a Team Option Indiana is acquiring Huff with the $2.2M +$250K trade exception of James Wiseman.
A league source said the Pacers’ offer to Turner topped out at around $23 million per year, short of what he got from Milwaukee. Turner essentially wanted what he got from the Bucks, something closer to $27 million a year. With the compounding luxury tax, had Indiana given Turner what he wanted, it would have paid around $11 million in taxes on top of his salary. In addition, by being a taxpayer, the Pacers would have lost the refund money that teams staying out of the tax receive annually from taxpaying teams, which is usually between $5 and $10 million per year.
Pacers have registered interest in Deandre Ayton
Sources say that the Pacers have, however, registered interest in Ayton. Don't forget that the contract Ayton just terminated through his Blazers buyout was a four-year, $133 offer sheet that he originally signed with Indiana in July 2022 as a Phoenix Suns restricted free agent.
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But Indiana was already facing the likelihood next season of playing without Haliburton, who tore his Achilles about seven minutes into Game 7 of the finals, and decided it didn’t want to “overpay” for Turner now, a team source said. The Pacers had signaled a willingness to pay the luxury tax as the offseason neared, but clearly changed that stance in the wake of Haliburton’s injury.
Indiana’s offer to Turner, that source said, never stretched above three years or $20 million per season — well below the deal he struck with the Bucks. Turner’s struggles late in the postseason figured into the equation. He had a hard time against both the New York Knicks in the conference finals and then against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the finals, averaging about 12 points and 3.5 rebounds in those two series on 47-percent shooting (25 percent from 3-point range).
According to a league source who spoke to RG, the Pacers were unwilling to offer Turner more than four years and $22 million annually. RG has learned that Turner would have stayed in Indiana for $25 million per year, but the organization wouldn’t budge on the amount. With neither side able to come to terms, the Pacers had intentions to sign-and-trade Turner to whichever team courted him. Instead, the Bucks came to Turner on Tuesday morning with “an offer that was hard to turn down,” per the source. Milwaukee was willing to go four years for $107 million on a contract, but a player option in the final season and a 15% trade kicker were what sealed the deal for Turner. Everything came together quickly, and it was as much of a surprise to Pacers fans and the basketball world as it was to Turner’s camp. While emotions will certainly run high in the coming weeks as Turner steps outside Indianapolis for the first time in his NBA career, the 29-year-old is eager for his next phase.
Bobby Marks: This is a stunning blow to the Eastern Conference Champions, Indiana Pacers. Turner landing in Milwaukee and Indiana not getting anything back in return is critical to a team that was 1 game away from winning the NBA championship. While they now have the $14.1M non tax mid level exception, the market for starting centers is shallow. A Turner signing would have put Indiana in the luxury tax for the first time since 2006.
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And we can sit here and debate whether Kenny was right to do that, whether he should have trusted Tai a little bit more, whether Tai earned a longer leash. But there were people inside the organization that saw the defensive numbers of Ty Jerome in that series against Indiana, and they were terrified. They were terrified about what that could look like moving into the future. And I think there was some hesitancy to make that kind of financial commitment to somebody when you're legitimately wondering, ‘How much can we trust him in a playoff series or in a playoff run?
The NBA had already convened a panel of experts to study Achilles tendon injuries even before Indiana star Tyrese Haliburton ruptured his in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday night. The league had seven known Achilles injuries this season - Pacers forwards James Wiseman and Isaiah Jackson, New Orleans guard Dejounte Murray and Miami guard Dru Smith had them in the regular season, and Boston's Jayson Tatum, Milwaukee's Damian Lillard and Haliburton were hurt in the playoffs. Silver, speaking to ESPN as part of its NBA draft coverage, said there weren't any in the NBA in the previous season. "We had already convened a panel of experts before Tyrese's most recent Achilles rupture," Silver said on the telecast. "We had seven this year. We had zero last year under the exact same circumstances. The most we've ever had in a season is four."
Meanwhile, the Pacers’ success was contingent on its screening style. Indiana isn’t necessarily wrecking defenders with bone-crushing screens. Instead, it often has other objectives. “Your ultimate goal is to create some kind of contact at some point,” center Myles Turner said. “But we are just trying to free up space.”
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