Milwaukee Bucks center Myles Turner believes the Indiana Pacers owner has given up on pursuing a championship after the team dreamed of reaching the NBA Finals last summer.
Turner was disappointed with the Pacers’ free-agent offer. He finally decided to join the Bucks.
“Ownership made the decision and I had no choice but to accept it,” Turner told ESPN. “The hardest part is we were so close to achieving our end goal. It felt like they gave up.”
Indiana lost Tyrese Haliburton to a ruptured Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the Finals, making the road to a championship in 2025-26 extremely difficult. The Pacers appear to have pivoted to managing the salary cap as much as possible, replacing Turner with Jay Huff.
Turner will play his first game Monday night in Indiana after signing a four-year, $107 million contract with the Bucks. According to reports, the Pacers’ best offer to Turner has never been more than three years and $22 million per year.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Turner said. “There’s going to be some cheers. There’s going to be some boos. That’s what it is. The most important thing to me personally is obviously winning basketball games, that’s the most important. But there’s going to be some mixed emotions.
“There are still some great people in the organization that I rock with. Obviously old teammates, it’s going to be an emotional blend for sure.”
Turner attracts widespread attention ahead of return
We’ll see how Pacers fans feel about Turner’s latest comments, but they’ve been wronged before.
When Turner signed with the Bucks, he said in his introductory press conference that he was going to a place where he believed there was value.
“I’m now in a city that wants to celebrate me,” Turner said. “There’s a great quote that goes like this: ‘Go where you deserve to celebrate.’ I feel like that’s where I am.”
Indiana didn’t take kindly to those comments, which Turner tried to clarify. On social media, he said the quote had nothing to do with Pacers fans and everything to do with his free agency experience.
Most recently, Turner called Haliburton a “fake tough guy” on new teammate Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s “Thanalysis” podcast. He once again tried to clear up the misunderstanding by posting full excerpts of his comments, which he believed were taken out of context.
The full comments leaned more toward Turner, who simply explained that the Pacers have players on the team who always want to protect Haliburton, giving him the freedom to be tougher on opponents than he would be without protection.
Milwaukee and Indiana started the season in opposite directions. The Bucks are off to a 4-2 start with Giannis Antetokounmpo, while the Pacers’ point guard depth has taken a further hit with injuries to Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell. Since then, Obi Toppin has been sidelined for at least three months with a foot injury. The team’s current record is 1-5.
Expect an exciting, tense atmosphere Monday night in Indiana.
