On April 18, 2021, the Indiana Pacers faced Nate McMillan and the Atlanta Hawks in what could be the last time we see the Turner-Sabonis duo in a game together. Will one of them be traded this off-season?
There have been many questions surrounding the big-man duo of Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis’ fit long-term with the Indiana Pacers.
Will the Indiana Pacers finally split up the Turbonis duo?
This year was intended to be the season to test the duo under new head coach Nate Bjorkgren who was recently let go from his coaching role with the team.
Bjorkgren had experience in managing this style of play with Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka in Toronto as an assistant coach under Nick Nurse, but his coaching style did not align well for both Sabonis and Turner.
Myles Turner was last seen on the court on April 18th due to a partial plantar plate tear in his right big toe. The injury sidelined him for the rest of the season and then followed by the play-off play-in games.
In this game, Myles scored nine points and shot one of five from behind the arc. Although, he did manage to grab eleven rebounds in his 33 minutes of play. This was one of Myles’ eight games with over double-digit rebounds this season.
As for Domantas Sabonis, he posted an impressive double-double with 18 points, 14 total rebounds, and one One Shaqtin’ a fool moment in his 32 minutes. This was done while shooting 57% from the field and hitting two of his four three-point attempts.
They both played well in this 129-117 loss to Atlanta.
The team attempted to trade Myles last season for guard Gordan Hayward from the Boston Celtics but the trade was declined by the Celtics.
As reported by @ThisIsJMichael on Twitter, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Charlotte Hornets are really interested in trading for Turner.
The Hornets drafted Frank Kaminsky from Wisconsin with the 9th pick in Myles Turner’s draft class, who is no longer a member of the Hornets team.
This could be Charoletts way of making up for that missed pick and adding an athletic defender that can space the floor around LaMelo Balland Miles Bridges. Myles and Sabonis having just two years remaining on their Pacers contracts could also draw interest from other teams.
It’s a good problem to have. Sabonis, of course, has been named an All-Star in consecutive seasons and Turner being the defensive anchor of this Pacers team made him just as valuable this season.
With the Pacers already moving on from their head coach, I suspect even more of a busy off-season for this front office.