8p9s Roundtable: The Pacers lock up Myles Turner for 4 more years

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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – APRIL 27: Myles Turner #33 of the Indiana Pacers arrives at the stadium before the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game Six of the NBA Playoffs on April 27, 2018 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Myles Turner and the Indiana Pacers agreed on a 4-year deal to keep him in Indiana. We gather the 8 Points, 9 Seconds roundtable to break it down.

The Indiana Pacers just signed Myles Turner to a 4-year, $72 million extension. What’s your initial reaction to the news?

Will Furr: I like it even more now that I know it’s $72 million base compensation, rather than 80 as Shams initially reported. I’m fine with the deal. I think it lands in the sweet spot of “feels a little high based on current production but could be much higher if they wait”. Turner by all appearances likes it here in Indy, and we know how hurt the fanbase was when PG wanted to leave.

Pritchard seems to have made it at least a minor priority to obtain and retain guys who wanna be here, and that’s Myles.

Aaron Eamer: The initial $80m wasn’t a deal I was shocked at. Someone was gonna pay Myles and he’s still a project the Pacers like. We’re a team that needs to develop through the draft and Turner has shown he wants to take the sort of steps Oladipo has done. OKC was shot down for giving him $21 million a year and look where he got.

The initial $80m wasn’t a deal I was shocked at. Someone was gonna pay Myles and he’s still a project the Pacers like. — Aaron Eamer

Now, I see it’s $72 million instead, makes me look at Myles in a more positive light too. He isn’t just in it for him, he wants to see this team get there.

Ryan Eggers: Deals like these are always going to be a bit speculative – but this has the potential to be one of the most important moves in this new Pacers era. Let’s say in our reasonable best case scenario that Turner becomes the All-Star he’s been hyped up to be.

That means the two cornerstones of this team are locked in at a combined $41 million over the next few years. That gives the Pacers a ton of flexibility to attract a third star through free agency over the next 2 summers, and by that point, well, we may see a legit Finals contender.

More from 8 Points, 9 Seconds

If Turner doesn’t pan out, and just gives the amount of production we’ve seen the past 2 seasons, it’s a bit of an overpay, but not by that much — a young big who’s a top 5 shot blocker and can shoot the 3 on the other end will always be valuable. Maybe not $18-$20 million a year valuable, but not to the point where you’re losing sleep over his contract.

Furr: Even if Myles had the exact same numbers (for a third straight year) someone would’ve offered him more than 4/72 during next year’s cap space extravaganza. The Pacers paid a reasonable price to retain a good player, and 18 million a year is totally reasonable for an above average starter.

It’s a good deal as long as he improves even incrementally throughout the life of it, and he’ll only be 27(?) when it ends. If it doesn’t work or the Pacers want to go a different direction, I’d imagine there to be plenty of bidders for a 20-something-year-old 3 point shooting, shot blocking center. I don’t advocate trading him, to be clear – but I think the market would be there unless he totally fell apart

Ben Gibson: For perspective, Evan Fournier, Tristan Thompson, Draymond Green, Kent Bazemore, and Evan Turner are getting paid roughly $17 million this season. Outside of Green, you could question if the others are worth that much to their team.

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