Subscribe
Follow Us
It was no doubt a shocking move to see former Indiana Pacers star Myles Turner sign with the Milwaukee Bucks after negotiations with his former squad, leading to questions about how dedicated the team was to retaining the big man. While some could label Turner's leaving as a big mistake for the Pacers, the team's president of basketball operations, Kevin Pritchard, spoke about the negotiations and the “challenging” aspect of it.
First, Pritchard would say to the media that the team was “fully prepared to go deep into the tax” to retain Turner, according to WISH-TV News.
“I don't want to get into the specifics of Myles, because the truth is, he gave 10 great years here, I loved having him be here, I hope I'm friends with him for a long time,” Pritchard said. I know this, that Herb Simon and Steven Rales, and the Simon family were fully prepared to go deep into the tax to keep him, and we really wanted to do that. And we were negotiating in good faith, but what happens in this league is sometimes you're negotiating, but because a guy is unrestricted, he has the right to say, ‘That's the offer I want, I'm going to take it, and that's best for my family.' And again, we were in good-faith negotiations.”
#Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard on Myles Turner signing with the Bucks:
“Herb Simon and Steven Rales and the Simon family were fully prepared to go deep into the tax to keep him, and we really wanted to do that.” pic.twitter.com/Et8zTQUcHN
— WISH-TV News (@WISHNews8) July 7, 2025
Pacers' Kevin Pritchard on “challenging” Myles Turner situation
As fans wonder what the final offer the Pacers gave Turner was, he is now a part of the Bucks after 10 seasons with the team that drafted him in the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft. Prichard would speak about the “challenging” aspects of the business, which are the sudden turn of events that can take place.
“It was a little surprising that you know how Milwaukee created that. I don't know if you know, we always say in our conference room, there are cap teams that have cap space, and there are shadow teams that have cap space,” Pritchard said. “You can go get but it becomes very challenging by buying out or making trades, and a hat tip to Milwaukee to do that. So I think the most important thing is, we were deep in conversations with Myles, and then, and then we saw that he'd accepted an offer with Milwaukee.”
“Again, that's part of this business that is challenging,” Pritchard continued. “I can tell you this also, that there are two kinds of things that I believe that it was kind of fundamental to the league right now, and that is, change is inevitable, and expect the unexpected.”
At any rate, Indiana will look elsewhere to improve their team after making the NBA Finals.
