9 hours ago 4

Revealed: Here's How the Pacers Fumbled Myles Turner

The scourge of the luxury tax! A record-setting waive-and-stretch! A sad lowball offer! Go behind the scenes of Myles Turner's move to Milwaukee.

The Indiana Pacers' loss is officially the Milwaukee Bucks' gain. On July 1, the second official day of the NBA offseason period, the defending Eastern Conference champions failed to retain starting center Myles Turner, who opted to join forces with Giannis Antetokounmpo in Deer Country.

How it all happened, however, is a tilt-a-whirl story containing several moving parts.

ESPN's Shams Charania was first to report that the former Texas Longhorns bruiser had opted to spurn the only NBA employer he had ever known -- and that Milwaukee had even made the dramatic decision to waive injured future Hall of Famer Damian Lillard and stretch his salary cap hit (the largest such move in league history!) to make the necessary room for him.

All told, Turner signed on the dotted line for four years and a tidy $107 million.

Subsequently, multiple insiders, including the Worldwide Leader's Ramona Shelburne, added that it was Turner's sincere preference to stay with the Pacers despite the devastating long-term Achilles injury superstar guard Tyrese Haliburton suffered in the NBA Finals.

And as a frantic morning raged on, fans learned even more regarding the dollar figures thrown around behind the scenes that ultimately caused the Pacers to fumble the center who was fast approaching a full decade in Naptown.

After Shelburne noted that Kevin Pritchard's front office was apprehensive about going deep into the NBA's luxury tax to retain the Longhorn alum, Jake Fischer of The Stein Line and Bleacher Report added an extra layer of coloration that will surely make Pacers fans gnash their teeth into a fine powder:

"Indiana’s offers for Turner never truly exceeded the three-year, $60 million range," Fischer posted on Twitter (no, I refuse to call it X).

Let's do the quick maths here: Not only did GM John Horst and the Bucks offer more years and total value, but almost certainly more average annual value to boot. Turner's Milwaukee deal lands him $26.75 million per season; collapsed down to three years, that's still far beyond Indiana's reported "$60 million range."

It's quite arguable that in the age of supermassive franchise valuations and media rights deals -- the Pacers' current $3.6 billion Forbes valuation places them above global soccer juggernauts like AC Milan, Juventus, Chelsea, and Arsenal -- but don't tell that to an Indiana sports fan today.

Take your billions and shove 'em, they'll say, as they wave goodbye to their man.