Myles Turner – Indiana Pacers
Early on in this past offseason, there was quite a bit of chatter on the front of the Brooklyn Nets being interested in a big man like Myles Turner. Some trade rumors of Joe Harris for Turner floated around, but nothing ever materialized into an actual trade offer from either Brooklyn or Indiana.
Adding Myles Turner to this Nets team makes a whole lot of sense and he is definitely a much better option for this team to pursue compared to the likes of Kristaps Porzingis because he is more affordable and a better defensive player. In terms of offensive production, the Nets are going to be one of the better scoring teams in the league with or without Kyrie Irving, assuming they can stay healthy, but there are questions about them defensively.
This team does not really have a true rim protector and last season, they played small most of the time with Blake Griffin as the team’s center. Against most teams, this rotation worked, but when they went up against the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, and other great big men in the league, the Nets really struggled to defend the paint.
Myles Turner is one of the best defensive big men in the league and he has led the NBA in blocks per game two of the last three seasons.
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Acquiring the Pacers’ big man gives the Nets a center they would not have to worry about going up against some of the best of the best this league has to offer on the inside and offensively, Myles Turner has made strides to become a shooting threat from many spots on the floor.
Last season, Turner shot 33.5% from three-point range and he was pretty efficient inside the three-point line, shooting 60.6% on two-point attempts. Moving Irving and getting Myles Turner in exchange as part of a trade package coming from Indiana is not a bad move whatsoever for the Brooklyn Nets, especially since they have a record-breaking tax bill this season.
The Nets currently sit almost $40M over the tax line for the season and between Harden, Irving, Durant and Harris, they are currently tied down to over $365M in total payroll over the next few years.
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Brooklyn is going to be paying a lot of money to have the team they currently have, but assuming this trade is just Irving for Myles Turner, the Nets would go from roughly $36.6M over the tax line this season to just $19.1M over the tax line.
Cutting their luxury tax bill in half would be more valuable than many would believe, hence why this is a deal the Nets could be interested in. Money can be a problem for teams over time and while they may have the resources to pay these contracts now, paying millions and millions of dollars each year just on taxes can really ruin an organization’s long-term productivity.
