The Pacers must have decided that the combo of Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis can work out, because they’re now paying both of them a ton of money for the next few years. A straight 18 million per year for Turner for four years, and very slightly more for Sabonis with the same amount of years.
It’s easy to think of them as kind of the same player, such that their skillsets would be redundant, but that’s not exactly the case. For example, Turner is American, while Sabonis is also American put pretends to be Lithuanian for some reason. That’s a big difference right there.
The Pacers did the right thing, I think locking them both up long term. In the NBA, if you want to win games, you have to have good players. It’s that simple. And it sounds stupid, but some teams forget about that sometimes in pursuit of “fit”. Turner and Sabonis are both good. So the Pacers should have both of them.
I do wish that Turner was a bit better though. He’s got the smooth jumper, he’s got the jump-out-of-the-gym athleticism, he’s got the defense, what’s stopping him from being better? Is Nate McMillan holding him back? Did his poor overseas performance send him into a tailspin of depression? Because when I look at him, I don’t see why he can’t be a black Porzingis with better hair.