When Milwaukee Bucks center Jericho Sims officially exercised his $2.8 million player option for the 2026-27 season, it created quite the logjam in the Cream City at the center position. It also makes a Myles Turner trade inevitable.
Center logjam should make Turner available
The Milwaukee Bucks' front office has never been afraid of making an aggressive pivot on a dime roster shakeup. After a huge transitional period that saw the team retool around a younger core, general manager Jon Horst faces his next clear directive.
When Jericho Sims opted in to his contract last week, it did more than just lock in a very reliable backup big man. It signaled that the expiration date on Myles Turner's tenure in Milwaukee has officially arrived.
With a clear youth movement underway and the luxury tax looming large, the Bucks' next move is glaringly obvious: the time is now to trade center Myles Turner.
The numbers don't lie
Milwaukee's center rotation is far too crowded and too expensive for a young team trying to maximize its flexibility. Following recent roster reconfigurations, the Bucks find themselves with three distinct options at the five spot.
Recently acquired Kel'el Ware is the crown jewel of the new young core. He is only 22 years old and showed flashes of a lethal inside-outside game after a highly promising 2025-26 season. Head coach Taylor Jenkins and his coaching staff should be licking their chops and handing Ware the keys to the starting lineup.
Jericho Sims is an elite athlete who gives the Bucks high motor rim running and protection, screen setting, rebounding and cheap bench depth at just $2.8 million.
Myles Turner is the veteran rim-protector who is owed $26.5 million this upcoming season. He also has two more very expensive years remaining on his contract. It makes little sense to keep Turner on the roster, especially if he is hindering and eating into the developmental minutes of the much younger and cheaper Ware.
With Sims locked in as a cost-effective and controlled backup center, Turner now becomes a luxury the Bucks simply cannot afford to keep on the bench. Additionally, Turner's overall game last season sharply declined on both sides of the ball.
Shifting to a new core
General manager Jon Horst needs to stop building around heavy cap-space veterans, as it has not quite yielded the dominant results he and the front office envisioned. Turner's 2026-27 salary is slated at $26,584,164. His projected role is a very expensive starter with a choppy fit.
Ware is still on a rookie salary for trhe 2026-27 season and can hopefully be looked at as the future franchise center for the team. Sims' salary for the 2026-27 season is $2,801,346, with a projected role as a very high-value, energetic, rebounding backup.
Sims is a career 74.2 percent shooter from the field who thrived tremendously down the stretch last season by doing exactly what a modern reserve center needs to do - playing with his head above the rim, catching lobs, and protecting the paint without demanding the ball.
By opting in, he provides an insurance policy that allows the Bucks to safely shop Turner's massively bloated contract without sacrificing their depth down low.
Turner would have a market
It's no secret that Myles Turner's fit next to Milwaukee's changing roster has become clunky at best. He is still a very valuable asset across the league who should be in high demand at the age of 30.
There should be serveral prominent teams monitoring this situation with Turner very closely.
He can both stretch the floor and block shots, and is a rare commodity in the modern NBA, which should result in him being in high demand. By packaging Turner in a deal, the Bucks can then aggressively target what they actually need - future draft capital and wing depth to complement their retooled, young roster.
Jericho Sims opting into his contract definitely was not an earth-shattering headline on its own, but in the chess match of NBA roster construction, it was the catalyst for the next major domino effect. It gives the Milwaukee Bucks the financial freedom and breathing room, along with a positional safety net they need to move on.
The forward path in Milwaukee is quite evident. Expect general manager Jon Horst to work the phones relentlessly to trade Turner, as his bags should already be packed.
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