According to Gregg Doyel of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required), the Pacers offered up to $95MM over four years for Myles Turner before he agreed to sign with the Bucks. Earlier reporting suggested Indiana didn’t go above roughly $60MM over three years.
Doyel shares that tidbit within a column defending the Pacers and castigating Turner’s camp for referring to Indiana’s “aversion to the tax” in leaks to ESPN, portraying the four-year, $95MM bid as a strong offer. Given the slant of the piece, it’s worth taking the report with a grain of salt.
Even if the Pacers did get up to $95MM, that offer would have come in quite a bit below the $107MM deal Turner is getting in Milwaukee and would also fall well short of the going rate for quality starting centers in recent years — Jarrett Allen and Jakob Poeltl have gotten $30MM and $28MM annually on their most recent extensions, for example. Even Naz Reid, who has been a reserve in recent years, received $25MM per year over the weekend.
Here are a few more notes and rumors related to free agency:
- During a TV appearance on ESPN (Twitter video link), Marc J. Spears of Andscape says star point guard Damian Lillard intends to rehab his Achilles tear in Portland to be close to his family, whether or not he signs with a team in the near future. Spears also says that at least 10 clubs – including the Warriors (Twitter link via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN) – have touched base with Lillard since word of his release broke, and adds that there’s “speculation” the 34-year-old could be back around the All-Star break. Given that Lillard just sustained the injury in late April, that timeline feels a little aggressive to me, but it sounds like he might aim to make it back before the end of the 2025/26 season.
- There’s very little money available on the open market for this summer’s top restricted free agents, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst stated during a TV appearance (Twitter video link). Windhorst went on to say that it might be in the Warriors‘ and Jonathan Kuminga‘s best interests to work out a deal and possibly revisit the trade market down the road. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network (Twitter video link) says he hasn’t heard “any traction” about a sign-and-trade deal to the Bulls, who have been rumored as a potential suitor for Kuminga.
- As first reported by Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link), veteran guard Jordan Clarkson gave up the exact amount of his minimum salary (roughly $3.6MM) when he agreed to a buyout with the Jazz, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. That will reduce his cap hit on Utah’s books from about $14.3MM to roughly $10.7MM, and he’ll make up the difference when he signs his new contract with the Knicks.
- In another troubling report on free agent sharpshooter Malik Beasley, who is under federal investigation for gambling allegations, Robert Snell of The Detroit News takes a deep dive into court records that paint a picture of Beasley’s financial issues in recent years. According to Snell, Beasley owed debts to his landlord, barber, and dentist, and pledged his current and future NBA contracts as collateral last August when he signed a deal with a Florida firm for a bridge loan.
Probably hard to get someone like turner to take a little less money for the team when he has been on the trade market for years until this year.
Im surprised he didnt take 85M from MIL but demand a NTC to do it lols…
Pacers probably right to assume Turner should want to stay and play for an NBA title (assuming Hali comes back full strength). Maybe they low-balled him, but still strange they couldn’t make it work.
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
Here’s one.
I’m not dead! I’m getting better. I’ll be back by the All Star break. I think I’ll go on a rehab assignment.
The bucks front office just went reckless. How does an owner sign off on(he need to cut 130 million to sign 110 million player). Just reckless, some nba FO’s are brain dead.
Billionaires don’t spend enough money!!!!
Billionaire spends money
Nooooo!!!
Billionaires just got a big tax break, on the backs of the average Joe!
Hence why they can afford to pay $100+ million to cut a player.
Or they are willing to spend when Indiana has a terrible billionaire who is penny pinching.
Basketball reference has Beasley making over $40M from 2020-23. Where’d it all go??
Cocaines a helluva drug, Darkness!
Taxes/Agent/Family/Friends and etc.
Gambling!!!
This is potentially the END for Lillird if he’s not too careful. He’s 34 now, has off court business to take care of, family to attend to, super rich, and no team to bother him to rehab.
Will he have hungry mimd? Will he actually play for 1+1 type of lowly contract? He hasnt been really committed to basketball in awhile and it just will not be that easy to come back from this injury. It’s really the beginning of the end for Lilliard unfortunately.
a bit rough to say he hasn’t been committed to basketball, dude’s been living away from his family since getting traded from Portland. as a dad I can tell you that’s no small thing…
Dame has been making money for a while. I don’t think that’s his motivation and I think it’s unfair to paying that picture of him. He am all time great competitor and I’m sure he just wants to get back on the floor and finish his battery the right way. I’m confident that means coming back to compete for a chip and preform at a high level. I think Milwaukee just saw this as a way to add talent now with the assumption that what they did for 2026 world factor more into keeping Giannis than what Dame could contribute in 2026-27, the last year of his contract.
Kuminga may pull a bit of a Big Ben here. Take the qualifying offer, oh my hurt. Buy me out. Is that a possibility? Certainly one the Warriors don’t want. There’s just no money with this CBA.Plenty of guys worse than say Kuminga or a Giddey got paid in the past.
The Detroit News article on Beasley is absolutely wild to read. Owing $26k to a Barber (!!), $30k to a Dentist who had the courts garnish Beasley’s salary to pay it back (and it still hasn’t been done), owing rent..and worst of all, taking out a loan where he signed over all future earnings to the company as repayment.
People mismanage money on a day to day basis, but to this extreme? Crazy. It’s certainly not evidence of him gambling, but it’s a hell of a lot of smoke.
He was waiving a gun at people too a while back. Good shooter. Bad at life.
Free Agency for Kuminga is a major disaster for the Warriors in many ways. The only way to get out of this disaster is to man up and sign him to a decent contract. We all want him to be happy, work hard, be positive, and hope he will develop to either contribute or have good trade value. Signing him to lowly contract will not help the team in mid season trade. How about 4 yrs for $100m?
Dame career ended with that Achilles. He wasn’t the fastest out there and already played bad defense. He is basically out all next season or won’t be in basketball shape by playoffs.
If we’re talking about articles with an obvious anti-athlete/pro-management slant let’s start with the majority of articles written on this site. Then we can talk about the majority of articles written everywhere else (esp the oft-quoted NY Post) which sadly also meet that criteria.
Media being so anti to these guys & constantly looking for/making up any excuse to tear them down is 1 of the main reasons this comment section & most casual NBA fans in general are so hateful towards these players.
This site largely just reports the facts with very little subjective commentary. What are you talking about?
Lol look who it is. It’s funny I only see you comment under specific circumstances lol. Good to see you tho. Probably be seeing you again pretty soon ;)
Dude you a child. The Internet has always been this way. Especially sports sytes. Where the working man can vent about all the money and opportunities they don’t have. Sort of like you constantly crying about this subject. That we all know you relate to race. Life isn’t fair. NBA or sports athletes don’t care about you. They have their own life. Sports sells in this country. So any news is good news. And bad news just can get milked longer. Life gives you a choice lol. You choose to be a part of this …..
Grow up.
Even obsessive fans find it hard to recognize the slant on “news” stories. Journalists in general dance to the piper who signs their paychecks, and the businessmen & management of the league have been working on their public presentation for a long time. OTH, the players and their union doesn’t do a professional job at this. Except Jordan, Kobe, & LeBron, of course. Those three are different because the NBA has a vested interest in burnishing their public image.
You can easily recognize slant in stories if you look at a different arena. Take politics (please), nobody has to explain that the media supporting the party you dislike tilts their stories. You turn on the wrong media outlet & immediately are indignant about it. “Why can’t they just report the facts?” But the media outlet that supports your party is pleasurable to ingest.
Sports is the same. The messaging is tailored to persuade fans that the owners are all great civil servants who deserve public financing for their stadiums & special tax treatment for their business. The P.R. goes down easy.
The best idea
Overpay Kuminga at 3 year 60 then attach 2027 unprotected First for a good player
Heat are interested in Kuminga, would like to trade Rozier for him
Kings are interested in Kuminga, would consider Zach LaVine …
Kuminga
Rebound per game 4.6
3PT 30.5%
I’m better than him
Would love to see Dame sign with the TWolves doesn’t have to be during the offseason cause he will likely be out for the season but that’s just an awesome landing spot for him.
Dame ANT McDaniels Randle Gobert
Dillingham DiVncenzo Shannon Jr Reid
Having him come in just before the playoffs and give them that boost would be tough. You’ve got good defenders around him on that team and the guy he’s be replacing Conley wasn’t doing much these days anyways. But he’d come in and be a lethal shooter and scoring threat for them and potentially help push them over the hump
He’s not signing MN when he didn’t want to be in WI due to family.
Clarkson was a no-brainer for Knicks. He is just what they needed. I’m surprised he has the cojones to play in NY. ………. M-M where RU …..
Beasley news is starting to look bad. Its not going to end well ……
Ayton is biggest move out there for some team. But I haven’t seen any stories out there. Explaining the reality of this decision. I want to know why they gave on him. I know it’s not just about the money. It’s like the NBA is hiding their dirty laundry. I mean why would a team take a chance on him.
Any news on Clarkson’s recovery from plantar fasciitis?
It is a low risk move by the Knicks, but this player has a chance to be playing less than Zion Williamson.
He appears to have it as a chronic issue not an acute issue.
After a month into the season, we can possibly debate what his over – under availability will be for 40 games in the season or availability for the playoffs might be.
Just in terms of basketball fit, who is the best available big for Indiana? Mo Wagner?
They should sign Ayton. I doubt they will. Considering Hali is out for year. They could tank the year away. Go for a top pick next year.
Ayton would have to run to play for the Pacers and I don’t think they can count on that. There are a lot of people talking about him because they made him an offer 3 years ago, but I don’t think he represents a good basketball fit in 2025.
IND played the dangerous game of trying to over leverage an illiquid market to get a bargain. It almost never works with UFAs. If the luxury tax was such a concern, they should have looked at their projected payroll when they maxed Siakam (which TOR was unwilling to do). At a minimum he should have known since last year what the team’s parameters for him were.