Pacers' Mathurin Shares Photo of Dunk over Myles Turner After Center's Bucks Contract
If Bennedict Mathurin's Instagram is any indication, the Indiana Pacers aren't backing down from a potential rivalry with former teammate Myles Turner after he joined the Milwaukee Bucks this offseason.
Mathurin posted a picture of himself dunking over Turner on his IG story on Tuesday:
Turner had been with the Pacers his entire career since they selected him in the first round of the 2015 NBA draft.
However, he chose to join the Bucks on a four-year, $107 million deal this offseason after Milwaukee created the financial flexibility for such a move by waiving Damian Lillard and then stretching the remainder of the guard's contract.
"I was shocked," Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard told reporters Monday when discussing Turner's decision.
"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.'"
Pritchard also said he found out about the deal when ESPN's Shams Charania reported it and said Indiana would have been willing to pay the luxury tax for the first time in 20 years to keep the big man.
The loss of Turner means the Pacers will be without two of their primary pieces from last season's run to the NBA Finals during the 2025-26 campaign. Guard Tyrese Haliburton will miss the upcoming season after suffering a torn Achilles in Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
That means players like Mathurin, who were previously in smaller roles, will be more important to keep Indiana in the Eastern Conference title mix.
Mathurin was the No. 6 overall pick of the 2022 NBA draft and hasn't had the opportunity to fully live up to his potential in part because the Pacers were so deep. He will likely be more of a ball-handler and facilitator of the offense with Haliburton sidelined, which could lead to a significant jump in terms of individual production.
He also proved he isn't afraid to mix it up with the opposition during the NBA playoffs when he was ejected during a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
While the Pacers will want him to avoid such ejections, a more involved Mathurin will surely lead to more trash talk. It seems like Turner will be on the receiving end of some of that trash talk when Indiana plays the Bucks during the upcoming campaign.
That the Pacers and Bucks have developed such a heated rivalry in recent years will only add to the fireworks and make the matchups all the more intriguing.
