Pacers President 'Shocked' by Myles Turner's Bucks Contract, Learned Deal From Shams
The Indiana Pacers found out Myles Turner was signing with the Milwaukee Bucks this offseason the same way NBA fans did.
And that left president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard "shocked."
ESPN's Shams Charania reported at 11:07 a.m. ET on July 1 that Turner agreed to join the Bucks on a four-year, $107 million contract, which ended the chances the big man would return to the only NBA organization he had ever known to that point.
"We would have been open on a sign-and-trade because it's sort of mutually beneficial, but we didn't get to that point unfortunately," Pritchard told reporters Monday. "I saw Shams tweet it, and that's how I knew that Myles was taken away."
He also said, "I was shocked. If I'm being perfectly honest, again, I thought we were kind of going back and forth in an open way. We've done big deals with that agency, and they're great guys and we'll be doing more business with them. But Myles must've heard something in that (Bucks offer) that said, 'I'm gonna take it right now.'"
Part of what made the move so shocking was how Milwaukee pulled it off, as it created the financial flexibility by waiving star guard Damian Lillard and stretching the remaining $113 million on his deal.
While Lillard may miss the entirety of the upcoming campaign as he recovers from a torn Achilles, it was still surprising to see a team move on from a future Hall of Famer in such a fashion.
Pritchard was asked if Indiana was given an opportunity to match the deal the Bucks offered and didn't give a straightforward answer, although he made it clear the franchise was prepared to pay the luxury tax for the first time in 20 years.
"(Team owners) Herb Simon and Steven Rales and the Simon family were fully prepared to go deep into the tax and we really wanted to do that," Pritchard said. "We were negotiating in good faith, but what happens in this league is sometimes you're negotiating, but because a guy is (an) unrestricted (free agent), he has the right to say, 'That's the offer I want. I'm gonna take it.'"
The Pacers seemed to have one of the brightest futures in the league when they forced a Game 7 in the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but things have taken a turn for the worst since their Game 6 win.
Not only did the Thunder win the decisive contest, star guard Tyrese Haliburton suffered a torn Achilles that will sideline him for the 2025-26 campaign. That, along with the loss of Turner, means the Pacers may not be realistic contenders even in a wide-open Eastern Conference next season.
Turner had been with Indiana since it selected him in the first round of the 2015 NBA draft.
He led the league in blocks per game in two different seasons and was a double-double threat who could stretch the floor as a matchup problem in the frontcourt when he was at his best. Still, he struggled in the NBA Finals loss while shooting 37.7 percent from the floor and 21.4 percent from deep and will turn 30 years old next season.
Turner would have needed to play at a much higher level next season to keep the Pacers on the short list of realistic contenders with Haliburton sidelined, but he will instead work in pick-and-pops with Giannis Antetokounmpo.
And that reality is still setting in for the Pacers.
