Indiana Pacers president Kevin Pritchard says he learned that Myles Turner was leaving for the Milwaukee Bucks alongside the rest of us. He saw the news on social media.
Pritchard spoke with media Monday on various topics, including the stunning departure of Turner to a Bucks team that waived Damian Lillard to clear the way for the deal. Pritchard said that he was “shocked” by the transaction and that he learned about it when ESPN’s Shams Charania reported it.
“We did not see Milwaukee as that team. 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 said. “I saw Shams tweet it, and that’s how I knew that Myles was taken away.”
Turner left the Pacers for the division-rival Bucks on the heels of Indiana’s run to the NBA Finals that ended with a Game 7 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Turner struggled in the Finals, but was instrumental in Indiana’s postseason run as a 6-foot-11 center who can protect the rim on defense and space the floor on offense as an effective 3-point shooter.
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Before Tyrese Haliburton’s Achilles injury in Game 7, it seemed like a given that the Pacers and Turner would reach a deal and that Indiana would run it back with the same core next season in a weakened Eastern Conference.
Even with the blow of Haliburton’s injury that Pritchard confirmed Monday would sideline him for the entirety of next season, few, if any, saw Turner’s departure to the Bucks coming. When it happened, the Pacers drew criticism for being “cheap” and unwilling to pay the NBA’s luxury tax to keep a contending roster intact.
Pritchard on Monday denied that that was the case regarding Turner’s departure. He said team owners Herb Simon and Steven Rales were willing to pay to keep Turner in town.
“Herb Simon and Steven Rales and the Simon family were fully prepared to go deep into the tax to keep him, 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 unrestricted, he has the right to say, ‘That’s the offer I want. I’m gonna take it, and that’s best for my family.'”
Pritchard added that “it was a little surprising” how the Bucks created the salary cap space to sign Turner.
Milwaukee signed Turner to a four-year, $107 million contract in a deal that was facilitated by waiving Lillard and stretching the remaining two years and $113 million of the injured All-Star’s guard’s contract. Like Haliburton, Lillard has a ruptured Achilles tendon that’s expected to sideline him for most, if not all, of next season.
The Bucks prioritized the near future by adding a piece in Turner that may or may not help the franchise in its efforts to keep star Giannis Antetokounmpo happy on a roster that’s fallen out of contention since winning the 2021 championship. Whether or not it ultimately makes the Bucks better is yet to be seen.
But one thing is almost certain. Turner’s departure makes the Pacers worse. And the prospects of a 2025-26 season that just weeks ago was filled with promise in Indiana suddenly isn’t.
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