Yahoo Sports Report: Myles Turner agrees to 4-year, $80 million extension with Pacers
The Indiana Pacers and Myles Turner have agreed to a four-year, $80 million rookie scale extension entering the final year of the fourth-year center’s deal, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports the deal has a $72 million base with bonuses that can elevate the extension to $80 million.
The 22-year-old former lottery pick is a perennial breakout candidate who the Pacers just invested in as if he will break out prior to commanding lucrative offers in restricted free agency next summer.
After averaging 14.5 points and 7.3 rebounds in his second season while flashing potential as a floor stretcher (34.8 percent from 3-point range in 2016-17) and rim protector (2.1 blocks per game), Turner regressed statistically across the board last season, even as the Pacers took a massive step forward as Eastern Conference contenders. Turner battled a concussion as well as elbow and ankle injuries in 2017-18, missing 17 games and never fully finding his footing on a team that captured a fifth seed.
Turner changed his diet over the offseason and transformed his body with a new workout regimen designed by Kevin Garnett’s former trainer, drawing rave reviews from his teammates in the USA Basketball talent pool and telling ESPN that he has increased his mobility on perimeter defense.
“A goal of mine is to be an All-Star,” Turner told ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk in August. “I think that is one thing that every NBA player dreams of.
“I know I feel different. Just my movements on the floor … I feel more, I don’t think ‘majestic’ is the word for it, but I feel better, not as wobbly. I feel a lot stronger overall.”
Even still, as recently as a few weeks ago, there was no indication that the Pacers were willing to meet Turner’s asking price of $20 million per season, per the Indianapolis Star. With the benefit of having seen Turner through training camp, the Pacers appear confident that reinvesting in their 2015 first-round pick now is wiser than matching whatever offer he might get in restricted free agency in 2019.
That remains in question. Before Justise Winslow agreed to a three-year, $39 million extension with the Miami Heat on Saturday, Karl-Anthony Towns and Devin Booker were the only draft class of 2015 alums to have extended their rookie deals. Both signed nine-figure max contracts. Turner’s production has exceeded Winslow’s, but it’s yet to be determined if he will have a greater impact on winning.
Either way, Indiana will now spend 40 percent of its salary cap on a core of Turner and Victor Oladipo through at least 2021. There are worse ways for small-market teams with a troubled history of luring high-profile free agents to spend their money, especially since Oladipo made the leap from perennial breakout candidate to bona fide All-NBA talent after transforming his body last summer. If Turner makes a similar jump this season, Indiana will have made two of the league’s better investments.
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Ben Rohrbach is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
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