Myles Turner Raises Money for Texas Storm Relief After Fan's Viral Venmo Tweet

Indiana Pacers big man Myles Turner is one of the best at blocking shots in the NBA, but when he swatted down a fan's attempt to troll him, he inadvertently stumbled into a way to raise money for Texans in need of aid due to winter storms. 

Following a poor performance against the Chicago Bulls earlier this week, one disgruntled fan sent Turner a Venmo request for $100. Turner responded by sending back a single penny for the fan's "thoughts." Once news of Venmo transaction gained traction on social media, more and more fans kept sending pennies for Turner's thoughts to the big man—except that some of those pennies eventually be came a few hundred dollars. 

Turner, a Texas native, tweeted that he would match any Venmo payment sent his way and donate all the money to relief efforts in his home state. 

"I'm finally at a point in my career where I can laugh at stuff like that," Turner told ESPN's Eric Woodyard about the original Venmo request. "My first couple years in the league, I would've took offense to it. I would've been mad, I would've wanted to say something back, but I've been dealing with this for the past two or three years. I can have a great game, I can have a bad game, they love you and they hate you."

It only took 30 minutes before Turner was over $1,000 in donations. 

Players typically talk about turning poor performances into lessons, but taking a rough loss and turning it into charity work is a new level. Leave it to Turner to figure out the best way to make it happen. 

"Some people have been sending me $33 for my number, and I have 801 blocks this season so $8.01, and finding creative ways to send me messages and all this kind of stuff through Venmo," Turner said. "So it's a new way of fan interaction for me."