The Indiana Pacers lost a big piece on Tuesday morning. After pushing the Oklahoma City Thunder to a seventh game in the 2025 NBA Finals, the team is losing one of its key contributors and their longest tenured player. Myles Turner spent the first 10 years of his NBA career in Indiana, but he’ll be playing his future games for one of the Pacers’ biggest rivals.
NBA Insider Says Pacers Should Be Sick To Their Stomachs
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst thinks that members of the team and coaching staff should be furious.
The reason that Turner was unable to return to Indiana was the Pacers’ unwillingness to spend luxury tax money. Instead, they are losing their starting center, one who averaged 15.6 points per game in 2024-25 and shot nearly 40% from three point range.
BREAKING: Free agent center Myles Turner has agreed to a four-year, $107 million deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, plus a player option for year four in 2028-29 and a full 15% trade kicker, sources tell ESPN. Stunner. pic.twitter.com/MlDkZusVOv
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 1, 2025
They won’t only be without Turner, but he’ll be spending at least the next few years playing for one of their adversaries. In the wake of the Milwaukee Bucks waiving Damian Lillard, the 28-year-old Turner signed a contract with the team that is worth $107 million over the span of four years.
Windhorst had the following to say in the moments after the news broke:
“If I’m an Indiana Pacer right now, I’m absolutely disgusted. I’m sick to my stomach. If I’m Tyrese Haliburton, I am breaking things right now. If I’m Rick Carlisle, I’m furious at what just happened…To go to a team they hate. They hate the Bucks”
There were incidents during the first round playoff series between the two teams that fueled the rivalry. Damien Lillard traded words with Haliburton on multiple occasions, and Haliburton’s father notably got into a confrontation with Giannis Antetokounmpo that got him temporarily suspended from attending NBA games.
"If I'm an Indiana Pacer right now, I'm absolutely disgusted, I am sick to my stomach. If I'm Tyrese Haliburton, I am breaking things right now. If I'm Rick Carlisle, I'm furious… they hate the Bucks." 😳
(h/t @ClutchPoints )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) July 1, 2025
The immediate future of Milwaukee is certainly in question, as there is no guarantee that Antetokounmpo will be around next season and beyond. But the Bucks are hoping that acquiring a player of Turner’s status will help convince the two-time MVP that the roster is heading in the right direction.
The 2025-26 NBA season could be a far cry from the near-championship campaign for the Pacers this past year. Turner is of course gone, and Haliburton will miss essentially the entire year as he recovers from the torn Achilles that he suffered in Game 7 of the Finals.
\There is still plenty of time for the Pacers to make moves this off-season, but things have certainly gotten off on the wrong foot thus far.
