The Indiana Pacers may have the opportunity to trade Myles Turner this offseason. Here is the argument for keeping him on the team.
The Indiana Pacers were rumored to be engaged in early trade talks centered on Domantas Sabonis prior to the 2019-20 season. Then, by the trade deadline, Sabonis had played so well that his frontcourt partner, Myles Turner, was the one most frequently mentioned in Pacers trade rumors.
Turner, the Pacers longest-tenured player, has struggled a bit with the welcoming of Sabonis into the starting frontcourt, as should have been expected.
The Pacers asked Turner to completely revamp his shot profile — going from 25 percent of his shots being 3-pointers to close to 50 percent this year — to allow space for Sabonis to work on the interior on the offensive end. According to Turner, he was told prior to the offseason that he would be posting up more this season.
It was a jagged fit, especially in the early going, and the struggles most clearly manifested in Turner’s game.
The Pacers would let the trade deadline come and go without making a move, something that is very much in-line with how the Pacers typically handle the deadline. Some might say that Turner should have been traded, but there are a number of skills he brings to the table that appreciate in a playoff series, most prominently his defensive game.
Even moving forward, after the playoffs if they are to happen, there are reasons to hold Turner going into next season and give Sabonis and Turner more time to make this partnership look.
Let’s take a look at some of those reasons.