Wait, you're telling me the Pacers were right to not trade Myles Turner last year? Or the year before? Or the year before? Or the year before? Or the year before?
It certainly looks that way, as Turner has played an integral role in Indiana's run to the Eastern Conference Finals — a run they don't appear willing to conclude anytime soon, after miraculously going up 1-0 on the Knicks with (shocker) another borderline impossible last-minute comeback on Wednesday night.
Turner represents a rare breed in the NBA; the zero-time All-Star who spends an entire decade with one team. In fact, he's currently the NBA's longest-tenured player on the team he started his career with to never make an All-Star team.
The only players who have been on the team that drafted them longer in general are Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Giannis, Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokić and Devin Booker, who combine for 42 All-Star appearances.
So, "rare breed" doesn't even do it justice. Myles Turner is wholly unique.
Myles Turner has been good the whole time
Myles Turner is good?
Always has been. (Just imagine that's the meme with the astronaut looking at the Earth from outer space. You know the one.)
Two top-10 DPOY finishes, two times leading the league in blocks, and over 600 games with the Pacers later, Turner is playing the most meaningful basketball of his career a decade into a career that required patience from him and the Pacers front office.
Pacers deserve credit for riding with Turner
Fellow front offices should take notes from Indiana's handling of Turner over the past decade. He's been a good player ... so they never traded him.
Pretty simple!
Turner has been perennially on the trade block for most of his career, but the Pacers never pulled the lever on a trade because — I assume — teams undervalued him on the market. So they kept him! And kept re-signing him, despite not being in contention for most of his time in Indy. They kept him around because he's good, and it always pays off to have good players on your team.
On second thought, maybe team building in the NBA isn't that hard. (It is.) (But maybe it's smart to keep good players around if they're happy to play for your team.)
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NBA news roundup
- The NBA All-Defensive teams were announced on Thursday, and most of the usual suspects populate the rosters. Toumani Camara made second team, so my agenda is alive and well. Jaden McDaniels not making a team is almost unfathomable to me, but what do I know?
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander now has his own day in Oklahoma City after winning MVP. To be fair, I also have a day named after me. By me. And it's also today. Sorry to steal your shine, Shai.
Ranking conference finals teams by the pressure they're under to win the Finals
4. Indiana Pacers
Turner is the only important player who isn't under contract next year, and I don't see him heading elsewhere. At least, I hope he doesn't, considering I just wrote this whole newsletter about how cool it is that he's stayed in Indiana this long.
Two straight ECF appearances have Indiana fans deliriously happy, no matter what the next two weeks hold.
3. Minnesota Timberwolves
Oklahoma City is only going to (gulp) get better in the next few years, and Houston isn't going anywhere. Plus, Dallas just got Cooper Flagg and the Lakers now have Luka. So while the West will remain stacked for years to come, Anthony Edwards has officially reached "gives you a chance no matter what" status, and Minnesota has shown a willingness (perhaps too much of one) to mix things up. This isn't a last gasp effort from the Wolves.
2. New York Knicks
Knicks fans have written the obituary of this season about a half-dozen times already, so I think they're just happy to be in their first conference finals in a quarter century. Still, this is probably New York's best chance to win a ring, and they just went 25 years without making it this far. Why stop now?
1. Oklahoma City Thunder
They'll be back. Many, many times. But OKC won 68 games in the regular season, smashing plenty of all-time team records. They have to finish the job.