The only thing more thirsty than Myles Turner on Tik Tok is the teams who are trying to pry him out of Indiana. One of those teams reportedly thirsty to acquire Turner? The Milwaukee Bucks.
According to a report from Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com where he collected info from NBA executives, the Bucks have shown interest in the Indiana Pacers big man to “play the Brook Lopez role.”
Turner has been a popular name with Bucks fans around the upcoming trade deadline, but this is one of the few instances of any reported interest from the Bucks in Turner.
Reactions to the Milwaukee Bucks’ reported interest in Myles Turner
Fans immediately speculated that the Bucks would be in on Turner when reports came out that the Pacers were open for business on pretty much anyone on their roster. I was certainly one of those people and the fit does make some sense on the court.
Turner has averaged 13.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 2.4 blocks in his last six seasons while shooting 35 percent from 3 on three attempts per game. The two biggest keys for playing the “Lopez role” would be rim protection and 3-point shooting, Turner does both.
He has become one of the league’s best shot blockers, averaging over three blocks per game the last two seasons. You can debate if he’s as good of a rim protector as Lopez, but he’s certainly in the conversation as one of the five best at it in the league.
I do think the perception around Turner’s shooting is higher than what his actual ability is, pretty much because of his 2018-19 season where he shot nearly 39 percent from 3 on 2.6 attempts. In the three seasons after that, Turner has shot around 33 to 34 percent on four attempts a game. That’s right around what Lopez has shot in his four seasons with the Bucks (34.4 percent, to be exact) on lower volume.
Teams would still have to respect his jumper and go out to guard him though, which is the key to having good spacing.
Another skill that you have to have to play the Lopez role is rebounding and more specifically, boxing out. Turner’s individual rebounding numbers are higher, but as I’ve preached, individual rebounding numbers mean nothing if your team is consistently being out-rebounded with you on the floor.
Unfortunately for Turner, that has been the case for the most part. According to Cleaning the Glass (subscription required), there have only been two seasons in his seven-year career where the Pacers were a better rebounding team when he was on the floor.
That does worry me a little bit if the Bucks were to acquire him that their team rebounding numbers would suffer, but we’ve seen that as long as there’s some form of a big man alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo, they usually do just fine on the glass.
The biggest issue with any reported Turner trade is the money. He has one more year left on his deal after this season at an $18 million cap hit. The Bucks would need to send Lopez off, at least, to make it work and I’m not sure how willing I would be to do that this season.
There is uncertainty around Lopez’s back and what he’ll look like when he returns, but I’d rather take the gamble this season on Lopez and revisit these discussions in the offseason.
It also sounds like that’s where the Pacers are at as well. They reportedly rejected an offer of Jerami Grant for Turner from the Detroit Pistons and are more inclined to hang onto Turner after dealing Domantas Sabonis to the Sacramento Kings for Tyrese Haliburton, according to Bulpett.
Haliburton and Turner could be a very fun and interesting offensive combination, so I’m sure they’d like to see how that works at least for the remainder of the season, and then re-assess Turner’s future in the offseason.
This really does feel like an offseason type of transaction, if it’s going to happen at all.
Stay tuned for any updates regarding the Bucks’ interest in Turner and if anything comes from it.