Miles Turner leaves the Indiana Pacers after a decade-long stint with the organization to join conference rivals, the Milwaukee Bucks.
For the past 10 seasons, Miles Turner has been a consistent contributor to the Indiana Pacers. He helped the team reach the 2025 NBA Finals with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Turner was hoping he would re-sign a long-term deal with the Pacers despite becoming an unlimited free agent this summer.
However, Turner shocked everyone as he signed a four-year, $107 million contract with the Milwaukee Bucks.
In modern times, the tax penalties that teams may face in their second apron have led to many surprising decisions this offseason.
Former NBA player Patrick Beverly believes this played a role in Turner’s exit from the pacer.
“I think that’s perfect. You talk about rim protection. You talk about things we didn’t see at all. Everyone thought he would end up in Indiana.
“It shows the approach of these teams. They don’t want to go into that second apron and pay that luxury tax,” Beverly said on the podcast.
Tyreese Halliburton, the key to the success of the Tires last season, is undoubtedly. However, Halliburton tore his right Achilles tendon in the NBA Finals and Game 7 of the Thunder.
The Pacers are expected to struggle in their 2025-26 campaign as it is likely that Hari is coming out for the season.
“We don’t know what will happen when Halliburton goes outside, we’ll wait until we get back there. I’m not saying ‘tank’, but we don’t overpay the guy when we don’t know what we look like.
“It’s not personal, it’s business,” he added.
To welcome Turner to the team, the Bucks amazes star guard Damian Lillard, expanding $113 million over the next five seasons.
Even Giannis Antetokounmpo hasn’t seen the move, but Pat Bev believes that signing Bucks’ signature Turner to Dame is a great move.
“I like this for the Bucks. It gives them a little bit, but a lot of rim protection. This helps their defenses tons. I think their defense is a legitimate candidate defense with Giannis,” continues Beverly.
“I think he’ll shoot more threes with the Bucks, and now they need to find a point guard,” he concluded.
In the context, Turner averaged 15.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game, shooting 48.15, 39.6% from the field from the Pacers’ three-point line last season.