The Milwaukee Bucks sent shockwaves through the NBA on Tuesday morning with the reported signing of former Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner to a four-year, $107 million contract. This move was particularly stunning as Milwaukee was not projected to have significant salary cap space. The team cleared the necessary room to acquire Turner, considered a top free agent, by waiving future Hall of Famer Damian Lillard. Lillard, an All-Star in his two seasons with the Bucks, was still owed over $110 million on the remaining two years of his contract.
Meanwhile, the Indiana Pacers parted ways with their longest-tenured player after a season that saw them reach their first NBA Finals in 25 years. With Turner as a key part of their lineup, the Pacers had eliminated the Bucks from the playoffs in the first round in each of the preceding two seasons.
Leading up to Game 7 of the NBA Finals, Indiana was widely considered the likely favorite in the Eastern Conference for the upcoming season. However, Tyrese Haliburton`s torn Achilles injury, combined with Turner`s unexpected departure, has fundamentally altered the Pacers` standing in a wide-open East race now seemingly led by the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks. The conference picture has become significantly more complex and intriguing following a series of aggressive moves by teams like the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic.
With the addition of Turner, the Bucks signal their belief that they remain squarely in that championship mix, once again executing a high-stakes transaction aimed at maximizing superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo`s prime years. This move is poised to send ripple effects across the entire league. Let`s delve into the ramifications of Milwaukee`s surprising strategy and the reactions from around the NBA.
What Does This Mean for the Bucks?
With a player of Antetokounmpo`s caliber on the roster, the pressure to contend for championships is ever-present for the Bucks. That pressure intensified after three consecutive first-round playoff exits, culminating in a lopsided five-game defeat against the Pacers this past spring.
Lillard`s Achilles tear during that series left Milwaukee with a substantial financial commitment ($54 million for the season) and limited draft capital to improve the team. Antetokounmpo has publicly expressed his ambition to win multiple titles, and reports earlier in the summer suggested he was evaluating the team`s offseason actions to determine if Milwaukee still offered his best path to championship contention.
Rather than simply retaining most of their existing roster – notably losing center Brook Lopez, who signed with the LA Clippers – the Bucks executed the most unexpected move of the offseason, effectively replacing Lopez with a younger player possessing a similar skillset.
However, Tuesday`s maneuver was shocking not just because they acquired Turner, but primarily because of *how* they accomplished it: waiving Lillard and stretching his remaining $112 million contract over several years.
Stretching such a massive amount of money to generate immediate cap space was met with considerable disapproval among rival executives.
“Reckless,” commented one executive.
“That`s a move you talk yourself into in the boardroom in July when you have nowhere else to go,” another executive remarked. “You turn a bad situation into a worse one. They`re going to look at this in two years and say, `What did we do?`”
Turner was crucial to Indiana`s Finals run, providing the sought-after combination of rim protection and 3-point shooting from the center position. Brook Lopez had played a similar role for Milwaukee, making him an ideal partner for Antetokounmpo in the frontcourt.
While Turner is eight years younger than Lopez, their statistical production last season was remarkably similar. Yet, Turner is now earning three times Lopez`s salary, before even accounting for the additional $22 million-plus in annual roster charges the Bucks will incur for the next five seasons due to stretching Lillard`s contract.
Once a team stretches a player`s salary, the decision is irreversible. The Bucks cannot trade or reduce this amount; it remains on their books until it`s fully paid out. In essence, the Bucks are committing over $50 million per year, partly representing a phantom salary cap charge, for the privilege of having Turner on their roster. The team still needs to replace Lillard`s substantial offensive production (averaging 24.9 points, 7.1 assists, and 4.7 rebounds, shooting 38% from three last season), and this move comes after a season where their roster finished only fifth in the Eastern Conference.
What Does This Mean for the Pacers?
Indiana had given indications throughout their playoff run that they intended to re-sign Turner, who had been with the franchise for his entire 10-year career and had become a locker room cornerstone.
However, re-signing Turner would have meant entering the luxury tax for the first time in two decades. Whenever Indiana suggested a willingness to pay the tax, competing teams speculated whether it was genuine intent or merely posturing to depress the market for Turner, who was arguably the best unrestricted free agent center available in a year with limited cap space league-wide.
Nobody anticipated the Bucks creating cap space specifically to sign Turner. Once Milwaukee did so, they were able to outbid Indiana. Complicating negotiations further was Minnesota`s recent signing of Naz Reid to a five-year, $125 million contract; Turner, a starter on a Finals team, justifiably felt he was worth more than Reid`s $25 million annual value as a backup big man.
Although Turner is coming off one of his best statistical seasons, he struggled particularly in the later playoff rounds and the Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, averaging just 10.6 points on poor shooting percentages. Nevertheless, his combination of skills is rare among NBA big men, and it`s a profile currently missing from the Pacers` roster.
“Why didn`t they pay him?” an incredulous rival assistant coach reportedly asked on Tuesday afternoon.
While Indiana`s immediate prospects have taken a significant hit due to Haliburton`s injury and Turner`s departure, this situation could potentially benefit the franchise`s long-term future. With Haliburton likely sidelined for the entirety of the next season and the Pacers controlling their own 2026 first-round draft pick, finishing lower in the standings until Haliburton returns could result in a higher draft selection.
Where do the Pacers go from here at the center position? They extended a qualifying offer to Isaiah Jackson, a promising center who also suffered an Achilles tear in November, making him a restricted free agent and likely part of their rotation next season. The available options in free agency to replace Turner are now scarce. The most prominent remaining name is former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton, who was recently bought out by the Portland Trail Blazers – the same team Indiana signed Ayton to an offer sheet with in the 2022 offseason before Phoenix matched it.
How Does This Impact Antetokounmpo`s Future?
Teams around the league have been anticipating the possibility of Antetokounmpo requesting a trade from Milwaukee since 2020, when Bucks general manager Jon Horst made his first major trade for an impact player – acquiring Jrue Holiday from the New Orleans Pelicans – partly to assure Antetokounmpo. That move helped propel the Bucks to an NBA title the following season. Three years later, Horst used Holiday as the centerpiece of the trade package to acquire Lillard from Portland.
Now, it appears Horst has successfully completed a third such move by securing Turner. Turner is expected to continue providing the floor spacing and rim protection alongside Antetokounmpo that is essential to maximizing the superstar`s abilities. Antetokounmpo is under contract for $54.1 million this coming season, $58.4 million in 2026-27, and holds a $62.7 million player option for the 2027-28 season.
Antetokounmpo finished the past regular season playing exceptionally well in the de facto point guard role while Lillard was sidelined with a blood clot in his calf. It seems clear that Antetokounmpo will reprise this role next season. This has appealed to him in the past, particularly as he draws comparisons to other elite players capable of being the primary offensive initiator.
“I always felt like that would be my last phase,” Antetokounmpo commented in April after the playoff loss. “As a guy that can playmake and can set up a team, be like a legit point forward out there.”
In the final weeks of the season without Lillard, Antetokounmpo averaged an astonishing 33.4 points, 15.6 rebounds, and 6.6 assists while shooting 60% from the field. Given the likely high usage rate next season, he could potentially replicate these numbers.
This potential output could put Antetokounmpo in contention for a third Most Valuable Player award, provided he can lead Milwaukee to enough wins and maintain his health under what will be a significant workload, even by his standards. Sources indicate that both Antetokounmpo and Turner are reportedly excited about the prospect of playing together.
What About Lillard?
This marks a rather abrupt and unceremonious end to Lillard`s two-year tenure in Milwaukee and his much-hyped partnership with Antetokounmpo. The star duo never quite reached the lofty expectations set upon their formation in the summer of 2023. The Bucks held a respectable 73-43 record in the regular season when both Antetokounmpo and Lillard shared the floor, but they appeared together in only three playoff games – the last of which saw Lillard suffer a torn Achilles.
While it may not feel like a fitting conclusion to Lillard`s time with the Bucks, the outcome arguably presents the best possible scenario for his career moving forward. While the current expectation is reportedly that Lillard will not sign with any team for the 2025-26 season, he is now guaranteed the entirety of his remaining contract money. More importantly, he gains the opportunity to spend the next 12 to 18 months focusing on rehabilitation before choosing his next playing destination for the first time in his career as an unrestricted free agent.
Although Lillard is now a free agent, there are few incentives for teams to rush to sign him immediately, or for him to seek a deal now. Any team signing him today would only possess his non-Bird rights, severely limiting the raise they could offer him next summer without significant cap space or an exception. Unlike in other sports with more flexible contract structures, the NBA`s collective bargaining agreement restricts year-over-year salary increases in multiyear deals, preventing a team from signing Lillard for a minimum salary this season with a substantial payment in the 2026-27 season once he`s healthy.
How Does the Turner Signing Impact Other Teams Around the League?
Let`s revisit a trade that largely went unnoticed during the NBA Finals: the Pacers sent the 23rd overall pick in this year`s draft to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Indiana`s own 2026 first-round pick, which New Orleans had previously acquired from the Toronto Raptors.
It was somewhat unusual, though not unprecedented, for Indiana to execute a trade while competing in the Finals. However, it was particularly curious why the Pelicans would trade a draft pick with potential to improve in value next season (Indiana`s own pick) for a pick in the lower 20s.
This trade occurred before Tyrese Haliburton`s torn Achilles injury in Game 7 of the Finals, an injury that made it highly probable the Pacers would finish outside the top echelon of teams next season.
In retrospect, that trade now appears significantly worse for New Orleans. The Pelicans subsequently made what many consider one of the most ill-advised trades in recent memory using *that specific pick*, attaching an unprotected pick (the better of New Orleans` and Milwaukee`s 2026 selections) to the Atlanta Hawks to move up to the 13th pick and draft big man Derik Queen. With both Haliburton injured and Turner gone, Indiana`s own 2026 pick has become considerably more valuable.
Had the Pelicans not made that initial trade with the Pacers, they might not only be holding their own 2026 pick (projected to be at least a mid-lottery selection), but potentially a second lottery pick from Indiana, whose pick was protected only for the top four and highly likely to convey outside that range. (Apologies to Pelicans fans; it`s been a rough week.)
