Did you do it? Indiana Pacers do Miles Turner filthy? According to Milwaukee BucksWhen it came time to negotiate a new contract last summer, they didn't make the offer he expected. In an appearance on Podcast by teammate Thanasis AntetokounmpoTurner said he had a “vision of himself in Indiana, the organization,” but he found the franchise saw things differently.
Turner ended up signing a four-year, $108.9 million deal with the Bucks, who exercised their contract extension clause on the injured star. Damian Lillard to clear the space under the header for this to happen. In Tanalisys, Turner compared his experience to that of several of his former teammates: After the Pacers reached the Eastern Conference finals in 2024, they re-signed. Pascal Sakak (four years, $189 million), Obi Toppin (four years, $58 million) and TJ McConnell (four years, $44.8 million) and signed Aaron Nesmith to extend the contract (two years, $40.4 million).
“We had a great time, everyone was taken care of, everyone got paid because we won,” Turner said. “Then you move on to the next year. We have surpassed what we have done. We're reaching the finals. And everyone told me, “Miles, just put your head down. Put your head down and work, and then you will be taken care of.” And then you hear rumors that in Indiana we're going to have a luxury tax for the first time in history, hooray, hooray, hooray.”
Really, ESPN's Shams Charania reported this in June. that in order to re-sign Turner, the Pacers were willing to impose a luxury tax for the first time in two decades. Turner hinted that their calculations changed when their franchise player Tyrese Haliburtontore his Achilles in the seventh game of the tournament NBA Final.
“Everyone gassed me all year, saying, 'They'll take care of you, they'll take care of you.' And then the Tyrese thing happened in the Finals, and then I think the management and the owners just changed their minds and said, “Well, you know, yeah, we told you all that,” or, “Yeah, you know, you helped us get to the Finals and the Eastern Conference Finals, but we had to turn around.” And that's basically what the mood was. And we were just very far apart in terms of what we thought the future should be.”
Turner said he was “thrilled” when Bucks general manager Jon Horst reached out to him because he was disappointed with what he heard from Indiana.
“[Milwaukee] At the time, it was an organization that saw potential in me and wanted to value me at the stage I was at in my career,” he said. “And when I was at Indiana, I took a very team-friendly rookie extension, and then I took an even more team-friendly extension. So personally, I was… I'm 29 years old, I'm having some of my best years in the league, and I thought, you know, this is the time for me that I need to provide even more wealth for my family. And when our views did not coincide, it was very frustrating. And I had to get rid of my emotions and realize that this is a business.”
The Pacers drafted Turner No. 11 in 2015. He was there in Frank Vogel's final season. Paul George trade request, Victor Oladipo All-NBA Jump and TJ Warren stuffing the booze into the bubble. He was there during Nate Bjorkgren's short and tumultuous era; a miraculous trade with Haliburton that changed the franchise, and the franchise's first Finals appearance since it was in the ABA. Throughout his 10 years with the team, Turner was the subject of frequent trade rumors, but he never ended up being traded. In May, The Players' Tribune published Turner's love letter to Indiana.. All things being equal, he clearly wanted to stay, but Indiana didn't offer him a contract longer than three years or worth more than $22 million per year. according to Jake Fisher of The Stein Line.
The Pacers' version is that they were blindsided. “We were fully prepared to delve into taxation,” team president Kevin Pritchard. said in July. Pritchard said he negotiated in good faith with Turner's agent Austin Brown and “felt like we were working on a deal” until the Bucks got involved. Pritchard said he was “shocked” when he saw news about Turner's departure on social networksand it would have been open to signing and trading, but “unfortunately, we didn’t get to that point.”
In an interview with 107.5 The Fan in August.Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said he believes the Bucks told Turner their offer was contingent on him keeping it a secret rather than using it to get a better deal from the Pacers.
“I think what happened is they talked to Miles' agent, or Miles and his agent, and said, 'Look, we have this offer. This is the number, presumably the number you guys are trying to reach. We need to know that if we offer it, you guys will accept it and you won't be able to buy it,” Carlisle said. “This is a common negotiation tactic. And so, quite obviously, they accepted the offer. It is their right to do so.”
It's unclear exactly how much Indiana would be willing to pay Turner if it knew Milwaukee was on the list. It's also unclear how Turner's individual postseason play impacted what the team was willing to offer, but The Athletic reports this. that it was a factor. In the conference finals against the team, Turner made only 31.8% of three-point shots. New York Knicks and 21.4% in the final against Oklahoma City Thunder. In both series, the Pacers had problems on the glass and during Turner's minutes.
To be fair to Turner, he played through illness in at least some of the games against OKC in which he lacked open 3-pointers. Notably, though, Indiana beat Toppin over Turner in several clutch situations in May and June. More broadly, Turner has fallen apart as a guard in recent years, so the deal Turner received from the Bucks (assuming he drafts, he will make $29.1 million in 2028-29, the season in which he will turn 33) may not have been attractive to the Pacers for basketball reasons.
Turner and the Bucs visit Indiana on Monday. This will be Turner's first time playing at Gainbridge Fieldhouse as an opponent. Despite the strange ending to his tenure, or in some ways because of it, it will certainly be an emotional one. You can expect a nice, long tribute video.
