Pacers’ Myles Turner wants to bring people together via Spider-Man

Indiana Pacers’ center Myles Turner is using his platform to get the word out about a certain web-slinging superhero we’ve all come to love.

Going into his his fifth season in the NBA, Indiana Pacers‘ center Myles Turner has come to truly understand one thing: With great power comes great responsibility. This can apply to his game on the court. During his career, Turner has developed into an absolute force down low defensively, leading to him becoming arguably the most important player on the team on that end of the court.

But when Myles isn’t swatting every shot that comes his direction on his way to hopefully his first of many NBA block titles, the man from Texas is still just a kid at heart. Last season, you could catch him sporting all kinds of footwear that 7-year-old me would’ve drooled over, including Nikes themed after LEGO, Star Wars, and of course, his favorite superhero, Spider-Man.

Myles has done tons of community outreach projects since joining the big leagues, and one thing it seems he enjoys doing is hooking his summer campers up with early access to upcoming superhero flicks. Late last year, he and his team got their hands on an early copy of Sony’s animated movie “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” which he watched alongside a theater full of adolescent fellow fans.

This fun trend has now continued into 2019, thanks in part to the release of another Spidey film, “Spider-Man: Far from Home,” a core entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Turner usually hosts a summer camp for young hoopers, but with so much time being dedicated to USA Basketball this year, he couldn’t make it happen this time.

Instead, about 100 of his typical camp kids and their families got treated to another early screening of this new Spider-Man movie at a theater in Texas, which surely was still an awesome treat for everyone.

Turner says his father was a big superhero and Spider-Man fan when he was growing up, and he passed that along to his son as well. Kind of makes you wonder if Myles is possibly named after “Miles Morales,” the heir-apparent to Peter Parker who eventually becomes the new Spider-Man in the comics. Morale’s Spider-Man is more defensive-minded than Peter Parker and uses electrifying moves to thwart his opponents. Sound familiar?

Like his Indiana Pacers teammate Alize Johnson who also keeps doing acts of service for his community, Myles Turner seems to understand the importance of giving back. Shared experience is huge, and bringing a bunch of kids together to enjoy a movie with one another can go a long way in developing important friendships. And I mean, watching an awesome superhero movie alongside a rising talent in NBA has got to be pretty cool, too. Look for Myles to continue to keep the paint safe from evil-doers as he also takes care of his community. Real life superhero stuff.