The Pacers finally were able to come to an agreement with Myles Turner on a contract extension on Saturday as reported by Adrian Wojnarowski:
Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner has agreed on a two-year, $60M contract extension that includes an additional $17.1M renegotiation on his 2022-2023 salary, his agent Austin Brown of CAA Sports tells ESPN. pic.twitter.com/17nSSwN14z
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 28, 2023
Why this is good for the Pacers
The season has been one of constant uncertainty for Turner amongst constant trade rumors after the Pacers tried to make a run at Deandre Ayton over the summer. However, Turner clearly used it as fuel for the fire as he has come out and had a career year in nearly every statistical category. The Pacers were right to want to keep him.
Some around social media were saying that it was clearly an overpay. Tony East of Locked On Pacers explained that the math actually was very team-friendly and Shams confirmed that exact nature of the deal:
Effectively a 2-year, $43 million extension with $17.1 million in added money this year. That’s my guess.
— Tony East (@TonyREast) January 28, 2023
Shorter extension always made the most sense for Turner. He can get back into FA at age 29 now, and when the salary cap is expected to jump.
Myles Turner and Pacers reach agreement to keep Turner under contract through 2024-25 season, salaries as followed, per sources:
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 28, 2023
- $35 million this season ($18M salary plus $17M of Pacers’ salary space)
- $20.9M in 2023-24
- $19.9M in 2024-25
Total: 2 additional years, $58M.
So essentially the Pacers have used much of their additional cap space this season to give Turner greater than his market value, while getting a team-friendly hit to the cap in the upcoming seasons. On paper, it looks like it might be a slight overpay, but once you realize the Pacers had so much extra money to spend this season, it actually allows for quite a bit of cap space in the future to bring in a fourth star…..say OG Anunoby?
Why this is good for Myles
There are many reasons this is good for Myles. First, he will get to stay with the franchise that drafted him in a known environment with a system that he is thriving in. Given that he is having the best season of his career, he can continue to be where he is finding so much success.
He is also getting a massive pay increase over the span of the extension (most of it coming this season) and thus will be getting more rightfully compensated. And as stated above, he will again hit free agency in a couple of years when there is expected to be another cap jump, allowing him to get a big pay increase in another couple of years.
Sorry Lakers, Turner is staying in Indiana and we are thrilled for it.