Myles Turner told Texas’s 105.3 The Fan’s Ben & Skin that he wanted to stay at the University of Texas for one more year, but his parents encouraged him to head to the NBA.
The Indiana Pacers are thankful Myles Turner didn’t stay in school.
After the second best player in the 2015 draft fell all the way to the 11th pick, the Pacers were blessed with a talent that could potentially be a star in the NBA.
But if Turner hadn’t listened to his parents, the Pacers wouldn’t have been so lucky. Turner hopped on Texas’s 105.3 The Fan’s Ben & Skin and said he wanted to stick around Austin, Texas for one more year.
"On leaving school early: I wanted to stay. Austin, TX is like my favorite city in the U.S. I’ve obviously traveled everywhere just playing basketball and I love Austin. I didn’t want to leave the city, I didn’t want to leave my teammates – we were building something great. I didn’t even want to leave the classes, they were so interesting and intriguing, the incredible professors.But my parents were like, “You got to go, man. Your name is hot right now, you have a chance to be a hot commodity in the draft class and have a chance to go out and work 10 times as hard as you’ve been working.”I didn’t want to leave, man, I was a kid in a candy shop and I loved it – the whole college experience, admittedly being away from your parents a little while. But I knew business is business and do what I have to do."
With Karl Anthony-Towns clearly being the best player in the draft and Kristaps Porzingis being the only other player deserving of consideration in the top 3, Indiana benefitted greatly from Turner’s decision to leave school. Certainly, no one drafted behind him has made the impact he made, and at 21 years old, Turner’s ceiling hasn’t been reached physically or mentally as a player.
Next: Miller Time Podcast Episode #193: Q&A with C.J. Miles
The lesson here? Listen to your parents, kids.