Myles Turner, until the end of last season, seemed like the future for the Pacers. But since Tyrese Haliburton went down due to his injury in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, everything seems to be falling apart for the Pacers.
While Turner blamed his free agency decision to join the Bucks on the Pacers’ front office, he had nothing but praise for his former teammates, including Haliburton. However, during his most recent interview on Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s podcast, ‘Thanalysis Show,’ he said something that seems to have irked NBA fans the wrong way.
Antetokounmpo asked Turner to list three things that he loved the most about Haliburton. And while he was listing positive aspects about Haliburton, like his outlook towards his teammates and his family. But he also spoke about the modern culture of ‘beefs’ in the NBA. When a co-host compared Haliburton to Joakim Noah and Grayson Allen, Turner agreed.
“I can see that, bro. I just feel like one, Tyrese also, he knows he’s protected, too. So, he can go out there, talk his sh**, say whatever the hell he wants to do, and then, you know, he knows he has backup at the end of the day.”
“Now, he’s not going to be talking the same sh** if you’re in the middle of the street or whatever the f**k, that’s what guys are doing.”
And while Turner was trying to highlight how this has become a norm in the league that whatever beefs happen on the court, stay on the court, NBA fans seem to have understood that the wrong way. They took to social media and started calling out Haliburton for being a “fake tough guy.” They seem to have completely twisted his words, which were trying to highlight how nobody really hates Haliburton.
Why Myles Turner Really Left The Pacers
Turner was also up for an extension with the Pacers when they told him that they needed to pivot. Until before Haliburton’s injury, everything seemed to be going well for his future with the franchise. But right after the unfortunate injury, the Pacers decided to change their mind.
“So, not last year, but the year before last, when we went to the Eastern Conference Finals. We had, I think, seven guys in a contract year. Yeah. That’s unheard of, bro. for people to all come together and collectively have the mindset of like, ‘I’m here to win, and if we win, everybody we had taken care of,'” said Turner on Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s podcast.
“I think Obi Toppin was in a contract year. Pascal was in a contract year. TJ McConnell was in a contract year. Aaron Nesmith was in a contract year. Um, and I can go down the list, but you go through that, we had a great run, everybody got taken care of, everybody got paid because we won.”
“Then you go to the next year, and we surpassed what we did. We go to the finals, and all everybody told me was ‘Myles, just keep your head down. You keep your head down to work, you know, and then you’re going to get taken care of.’ And then you hear the rumors of, you know, Indiana, we’re going to go into the luxury tax for the first time, yada yada. And everybody gassed me up all year long and said you’re going to get taken care of.”
“And then you know the unfortunate situation happens in the finals, Tyrese, and then I guess the front office and you know ownership just basically changed our mind and was like ‘Ah, well you know yeah we told you all these things or yeah you know you helped us get to the finals and Eastern conference finals but and we had to pivot.’ And that’s basically what the sentiment was, and you know we were just very far apart on you know our what we thought the future should be in a sense.”
Despite averaging 15.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks over the last two seasons and being a pivotal contributor to the team alongside Pascal Siakam and Haliburton in that duration, it seemed like the Pacers had Turner in their plans.
Turner could have still been a key part of the Pacers franchise, but it seems like the franchise was reluctant to hand him the keys in Haliburton’s absence. It is still unclear why the Pacers decided to pivot, but it just shows the cold nature of this business.
