The Pacers “absolutely” want to re-sign center Myles Turner when he reaches unrestricted free agency this summer, team sources tell Brian Windhorst of ESPN (Insider link).
However, as Windhorst details, the Pacers’ cap situation would complicate those negotiations. Indiana already has approximately $165MM in guaranteed salaries on its 2025/26 books for just 10 players, not including Turner. The luxury tax line projects to come in at just under $188MM and Indiana has no plans to surpass that threshold next season, sources tell ESPN.
Turner, meanwhile, is making $19.9MM in ’24/25 and will likely be seeking a raise on the heels of another strong season. The big man is averaging 15.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, and 1.6 assists in 30.6 minutes per game across 65 outings. He’s also making a career-best 40.2% of his three-pointers on a career-high 5.5 attempts per contest.
As ESPN’s Tim Bontemps observes in the same story, a lack of league-wide cap room could hurt Turner in negotiations, since there will be few rival suitors in position to make a competitive offer for the 29-year-old. Still, it’s hard to imagine Indiana bringing him back at a price that would allow the team to fill out its roster and remain out of tax territory without shedding at least a little salary elsewhere.
Windhorst and Bontemps don’t identify any specific players who might emerge as trade candidates for salary-dump purposes, but the team may soon have to make decisions on swingman Bennedict Mathurin ($9.2MM salary in 2025/26; extension-eligible this offseason), who has been in and out of the starting lineup, and forward Jarace Walker ($6.7MM salary in ’25/26; $8.5MM team option for ’26/27), who hasn’t been a consistent part of the rotation since January.
Forward Obi Toppin, who is owed about $45MM over the next three seasons beyond this one and is averaging fewer than 20 minutes per game, could also be an odd man out, though his longer-term deal might make it harder for the Pacers to maximize his value on the trade market.
This scenario with Turner and the Pacers leads me to think about this question…
Why doesn’t the league just have a hard cap? Then a guy like Myles Turner won’t be able to sign with the Pacers and he’ll go to another team with room and make them better.
Yes, some teams would lose guys, but then other teams would have more hope as they bring in better players.
Sidenote, I realize the players association would never ever approve of a hard cap. In the scenario above and a hard cap, Turner makes 8 million a year and not over 20 million a year. Good luck getting that approved.
Hard cap for what??? Cowardice owners who elect not to even be competitive are all for that. Turner should definitely leave Indy though. Bucks, Lakers, warriors,clippers,pels all make sense for him.
Hard cap to avoid certain teams getting all high end players. Spread them out to the other teams.
I think the league wants two stars per team, then two great players and fill out the rest of the roster with “everyone else.”
Some teams have five great players, other teams have a lot of “everyone else.” Just throwing ideas out there.
if they lock up turner, thats a sparkling starting 5 of haliburton, siakam, turner, nemhard, mathurin next year. they should lock up mathurin too
@Gary – I think there is (effectively) a hard cap in the league right now (the Second Apron, approx 208 mm), at least for 90% of the rosters. There are ways to go above it, but only a few, and, even then, its unlikely to be practical to operate above it for any significant period unless you already have a championship level roster. Of course, that Second Apron level will be about 20 mm north of the tax line. IND here is trying to avoid the luxury tax, so that’s a different (more historically common) concern, basically a financial one.
The league’s current CBA system which (ridiculously) has 4 separate lines for salary cap, luxury tax line, a first apron and a second apron is a product of the what the dominant owner group (small market owners) and dominant player group (stars) want. The vast majority of players would benefit from a single hard cap line somewhere around where the Second Apron is now (eliminating the soft cap and all the tax/penalty lines beneath it). It might complicate the lives of young stars and their teams as the latter would need to reserve “hard cap space” years in advance to max the former. Still, though, I can almost guarantee that it wouldn’t be the player side that would kill the idea of a hard cap, as long as their percentage of revenue is the same, which, absent other changes in the CBA, it would be. It’s the small market owners because they believe the current system destroys free agency at the top of the food chain (always their overriding priority), while still providing an effective cap on spending.
A sign and trade with the Mavericks would beautiful for both teams.
MAVS: Myles Turner 4yrs/120 mil
PACERS: PJ Washington + Daniel Gafford
NOT beautiful for IND. They’re trying to shed an expensive PF, and stay under the Tax. You’ve added an another expensive PF and put them deep in the Tax. Maybe Gafford and Lively, with a FRP.
Pacers have been trading Turner. Practically since the day they got him. You can’t build a winner if you don’t commit to a core.
If I remember correctly, didnt Indy say NO to any deals for Turner? So I don’t think that statement applies that Pacers have been attempting to trade since they drafted him. If that was the case, he would have been a Laker a few years ago.
Also wouldn’t of reconstructed Myles last contract. Had a tonne of space, front loaded Myles big time. Let’s see how far that bit of good faith a few years back plays out now come contract time. Turner is a valuable asset in this league and other teams will come hard. I still think the pacers should trade Haliburton depending on what the real pacers goals are. Pacers maxed out going to conference finals last season and a team that needs to strike gold in the draft in my opinion.
Ok so what you are really saying. Is this time we realky really really mean it. Yeah ok
No commitment no winner …..
Turner goes before Haliburton. Lol
How long you been following the NBA. Google it. He has. Beentraded many times. He has been in trade rumors. More than Knicks signing every star available. OK ——— I’ll do it for you.
Myles Turner, drafted by the Pacers in 2015, has been the subject of trade rumors consistently since his rookie year, particularly around trade deadlines and free agency periods, due to his value as a stretch big and impending free agency status.
Here’s a more detailed look at the history of Turner trade rumors:
link to google.com
Again….. you must commit to a core. If you want to build a winner. That is for every team including Knicks
Just bc he was rumored doesnt mean he actually got traded. I don’t think you know what the word traded means lmao. It means he is on ANOTHER team. He’s still with the team that drafted him from 2015, so no he never got traded . Smdh