The NBA landscape was left stunned on Tuesday morning following reports from ESPN`s Shams Charania that the Milwaukee Bucks had reached an agreement with former Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner on a four-year, $107 million contract. Milwaukee wasn`t a team expected to have significant salary cap space. The franchise engineered the necessary flexibility to acquire Turner, widely considered the top free agent center available, by waiving future Hall of Famer Damian Lillard. Lillard had been an All-Star in his two seasons with the Bucks and was still owed over $110 million for the final two years of his deal.
Meanwhile, the Indiana Pacers unexpectedly lost their longest-tenured player shortly after the franchise made its first appearance in the NBA Finals in a quarter-century. With Turner on the roster, the Pacers had successfully eliminated the Bucks from the first round of the playoffs in each of the last two seasons.
Before Game 7 of the recent NBA Finals, Indiana appeared to be positioned as the probable favorite in the Eastern Conference for the upcoming season. However, the combination of Tyrese Haliburton suffering a torn Achilles injury and now Turner`s departure has fundamentally shifted the Pacers` standing in what is now a wide-open East race. This competitive field is currently viewed as being led by the Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks and has become significantly more intriguing after recent roster maneuvers by teams like the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic.
By adding Turner, the Bucks believe they belong in that mix of contenders, once again making a high-risk move to maximize superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo`s prime years. Below is an examination of the ripple effects stemming from Milwaukee`s surprising decision – a move anticipated to have consequences across the entire NBA – and insights into how league figures are reacting.
What This Means for Milwaukee
With Antetokounmpo on the roster, the Bucks are perpetually under pressure to win championships. This pressure only intensified after suffering three consecutive first-round playoff exits, including a comprehensive five-game defeat at the hands of the Pacers this past spring. During that series, Lillard sustained an Achilles tear, leaving Milwaukee with a significant $54 million void on its roster for the current season and limited draft assets to address it. Antetokounmpo has publicly expressed his desire for multiple championships, and reports earlier this summer indicated he would be closely monitoring the team`s offseason moves to assess whether Milwaukee remained his optimal path to title contention.
Thus, instead of merely re-signing most of their existing players – with the exception of center Brook Lopez, who agreed to terms with the LA Clippers – the Bucks executed the most unexpected move of the offseason, acquiring a younger version of Lopez in the process. However, Tuesday morning`s maneuver was shocking on multiple levels: both for securing Turner and for the method employed, which involved waiving Lillard and stretching his remaining $112 million contractual obligation.
Stretching such a substantial amount of money to create salary cap space for Turner was not well-received by rival executives. “Reckless,” stated one executive. Another commented, “That`s a move you convince yourself to make in the boardroom in July when you`ve exhausted all other options… They`re going to look back at this in two years and think, `What did we do?`”
Turner was a crucial component in Indiana`s run to the Finals, offering the highly valued combination of rim protection and three-point shooting from a seven-footer. Brook Lopez had provided a similar skill set for Milwaukee alongside Antetokounmpo for several years, making him an ideal frontcourt partner. Although Turner is eight years younger than Lopez, their statistical contributions last season were almost identical. Yet, Turner is now earning approximately three times Lopez`s salary – and that figure doesn`t include the more than $22 million annually in dead cap charges that will burden Milwaukee`s books for the next five seasons due to the decision to waive and stretch Lillard`s deal.
Once a team stretches a player`s salary, the decision is irreversible. The Bucks cannot trade or reduce that salary in any way; it remains fixed on their salary cap sheet until it expires. Effectively, Milwaukee is paying over $50 million per year for the right to have Turner on their roster. The team has not yet found a replacement for Lillard`s significant production – which included averages of 24.9 points, 7.1 assists, and 4.7 rebounds per game while shooting 38% from three – for a roster that finished fifth in the Eastern Conference last season.
What This Means for Indiana
Indiana had signaled throughout its playoff run that it intended to re-sign Turner, who had spent the first 10 seasons of his professional career with the team and had become a central figure in their locker room. Doing so, however, would have meant entering the luxury tax, a threshold the Pacers had not crossed in two decades. Each time Indiana hinted at being comfortable paying the tax, rival teams questioned the sincerity of this stance, wondering if it was merely posturing to try and depress the market for Turner, who was the most desirable unrestricted free agent center available in a year with limited league-wide cap space.
However, no one anticipated the Milwaukee Bucks creating the necessary cap space to sign Turner. Once they did, they were able to outbid Indiana. The Minnesota Timberwolves` signing of center Naz Reid to a five-year, $125 million contract the previous week had already complicated negotiations with Turner; Turner, as a starting center for a Finals team, reasonably believed he was worth more than the $25 million annual value given to Reid, a backup big man in Minnesota.
Although Turner is coming off one of the strongest seasons of his career, he struggled in the later rounds of the playoffs, particularly against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Finals, where he averaged just 10.6 points on poor shooting splits (37.7% from the field, 21.4% from three). Nevertheless, his specific combination of skills is difficult to find among NBA big men, and it`s a dynamic currently missing from the Pacers` roster. As one rival assistant coach remarked in disbelief, “Why didn`t they pay him?”
While Indiana`s immediate prospects have taken a significant hit with both Haliburton`s injury and Turner`s departure, it could potentially lead to a positive outcome for the franchise`s long-term future. With Haliburton likely sidelined for the entirety of next season and the Pacers holding control of their own first-round draft pick in 2026, they could benefit from a higher draft selection if the team takes a temporary step back until Haliburton is ready to return. So, what`s next for the Pacers? They extended a qualifying offer to Isaiah Jackson, a high-energy center who also suffered an Achilles tear in November, indicating he will likely be part of their center rotation next season. The available options to replace Turner in free agency are now scarce, as many names have quickly come off the board. The most notable remaining possibility is former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton, who was recently bought out of the final year of his contract by the Portland Trail Blazers – a contract Indiana had actually signed Ayton to as an offer sheet in the 2022 offseason before the Phoenix Suns matched it.
How This Affects Antetokounmpo`s Future
Other teams across the league have been anticipating the possibility of Antetokounmpo seeking a move away from Milwaukee since 2020. That year, Bucks general manager Jon Horst orchestrated his first major deal for a high-impact player, acquiring Jrue Holiday from the New Orleans Pelicans, a move intended to help persuade Antetokounmpo to stay and one that contributed significantly to the Bucks` NBA title the following season. Three years later, Horst used Holiday as a primary asset in the trade package to bring Lillard to Milwaukee from Portland.
Now, it appears Horst has managed to make a third such pivotal roster change by securing Turner, who is expected to continue providing the essential floor spacing and rim protection needed alongside Antetokounmpo to maximize his unique talents. Antetokounmpo is under contract for $54.1 million this upcoming season and $58.4 million in 2026-27, with a $62.7 million player option for the 2027-28 season.
Following a strong conclusion to the last regular season, where he effectively played as the team`s primary ball-handler while Lillard dealt with a blood clot issue that sidelined him for the final month, it`s clear Antetokounmpo is likely to reprise that role this season. This appeals to Antetokounmpo, particularly as he compares himself to other elite players who serve as the central hub of their team`s offense. “I always felt like that would be my last phase,” Antetokounmpo commented in April after the team`s playoff loss, referring to developing into a “legit point forward” capable of playmaking and setting up the offense.
Over the final few weeks of the season without Lillard, Antetokounmpo posted extraordinary numbers: averaging 33.4 points, 15.6 rebounds, and 6.6 assists while shooting 60% from the field. He could potentially replicate these statistics next season, given the amount of time the ball will be in his hands. This level of production could put Antetokounmpo in contention for his third Most Valuable Player Award, assuming he can lead Milwaukee to enough victories and remain healthy under what will be an immense workload, even by his own high standards. According to sources, both Antetokounmpo and Turner are reportedly excited about the prospect of playing together.
What About Damian Lillard?
This represents a rather abrupt and somewhat unceremonious conclusion to Damian Lillard`s two-year stint in Milwaukee and his partnership with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Despite high expectations, the star duo never fully reached the anticipated heights. They posted a 73-43 regular-season record when both were active, but they appeared together in only three playoff games, the last of which saw Lillard suffer a torn Achilles.
While it might seem an unfitting end to his time with the Bucks, this outcome arguably presents Lillard with the most favorable scenario for his career moving forward. The current expectation, according to sources, is that Lillard will not sign with any team for the 2025-26 season. He will receive the entirety of his remaining contract value while gaining the opportunity to spend the next 12 to 18 months focused on rehabilitating his injury. Crucially, he will then be free to choose his next team for the very first time in his career as an unrestricted free agent.
Although Lillard is now a free agent, there is little incentive for any team to rush to sign him immediately, or for him to seek a deal right now. Any team signing him at this juncture would only possess his non-Bird rights, severely limiting the salary they could offer him without needing to use significant cap space or a salary cap exception next summer. Unlike other sports that offer more flexibility in contract structuring, the NBA`s collective bargaining agreement imposes strict limits on year-over-year salary increases in multiyear contracts, preventing a team from offering Lillard a minimum salary this season followed by a substantial balloon payment in the 2026-27 season once he is healthy.
How the Turner Signing Impacts Other Teams
Let`s briefly revisit a trade that flew somewhat under the radar during the recent NBA Finals: the Indiana 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 acquired earlier from the Toronto Raptors. It was considered interesting, though not entirely unprecedented, for a team actively competing in the Finals to make a trade. However, it was particularly curious why the Pelicans would trade a pick with the potential to be relatively high for one projected to be in the 20s.
Significantly, that initial trade took place *before* Tyrese Haliburton suffered his torn Achilles injury in Game 7 of the NBA Finals – an injury that made it highly probable the Pacers would finish near the bottom of the league standings next season. In hindsight, that trade looks considerably worse for New Orleans. Subsequently, the Pelicans made what many have called a highly questionable trade using *that* very pick, packaging it along with an unprotected 2026 first-round pick (the better of New Orleans` and Milwaukee`s selections) to the Atlanta Hawks to move up to the 13th overall pick and draft big man Derik Queen. With both Haliburton injured and Turner no longer on the roster, Indiana`s own 2026 first-round pick has become significantly more valuable and is now highly likely to be a lottery selection.
Had the Pelicans not made that initial trade with Indiana, they might currently possess not only their own first-round pick (projected to be at least a mid-lottery choice) but potentially a second lottery pick from Indiana, as the Pacers` pick was top-four protected and highly likely to convey outside the top four. (Apologies to Pelicans fans – it`s certainly been a tough week.)
