Myles Turner playing well right now feels like if the air conditioning finally got fixed at a power plant that just had a nuclear disaster. Like, that's cool, but doesn't feel particularly helpful right now.
He really is playing well, though, and finally looks like the guy the Bucks thought they were adding when they signed him to a 4-year, $108 million contract last summer. Turner has played well in four straight games, including a 31-point outburst earlier this week against the 76ers, and a 21/14/6 block performance against the Wizards last night. We don't need to talk about the game itself, though.
Turner did not endear himself to Bucks fans early in his tenure. When lucrative free agent signings get off to slow starts like Turner did, it's hard to win back the favor of the fanbase, which is what Turner is trying to do right now. Honestly, going out every night and giving maximum effort when things appear to be crumbling is probably his quickest route to accomplishing that.
Myles Turner could be turning a corner for the Bucks
After a pretty rough first half of the season, Turner is waking up a bit. This doesn't mean much for the Bucks in 2025-26, as things somehow get worse with each bit of news. But Turner is under contract for the next three seasons, so it's at least encouraging to see him pick things up, knowing he'll likely be around for the long haul. Or at least the medium haul.
Or, at the very least, set himself up to be a trade candidate if the Bucks are forced to buy into a full rebuild. Turner has shown that he can contribute to very good teams like he did the past two seasons in Indiana, and center-needy teams could easily talk themselves into his contract actually benefiting them as a mid-term answer at the five.
Myles Turner can't go a full year without being mentioned in trade talks, no matter where he's playing, apparently. In the meantime, he's a Buck, and he's playing like a guy who earned a $100-plus million contract a few months ago. It may not feel like much, but I think Bucks fans still at least want Bucks players to perform well... Unless they've fully bought into the unintentional tank, which some surely have. For that group, sorry that Myles Turner is playing well all of a sudden.