We’re used to seeing Myles Turner’s name in rumors, and that’s likely to continue until the next trade deadline. New episode this Tuesday, with noises from the corridor which now send the pivot of the Pacers to the Los Angeles… Clippers.
Long into the offseason, a potential trade between the Lakers and Pacers sending Russell Westbrook and first-round draft picks to Indiana against Myles Turner-Buddy Hield duo was on the table. The track has since cooled, but that doesn’t mean Turner won’t end up in Los Angeles one day.
Indeed, if we are to believe Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report, the Clippers could well put themselves on the record in order to strengthen their racket, essentially composed of the Croatian pivot Ivica Zubac today. If the latter has been doing the job pretty well since he joined the Clips (10.5 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks on average this season) and coach Tyronn Lue relies a lot on the versatility of his frontcourt players to compensate for the lack of pure interiors, it is true that it’s not phew depth level on post 5 after Isaiah Hartenstein left for the Knicks in the offseason. And precisely, always according to Bleacher, one or more forwards could be sacrificed in order to rebalance the workforce a little. Between Marcus Morris, Robert Covington and Nicolas Batum, there are people on the 3-4 positions, not to mention the other outsiders like Norman Powell, Terance Mann or Luke Kennard.
The Clippers have discussed the possibility of trading for Myles Turner, per B/R’s @EricPincus pic.twitter.com/Ol11Yc60Un
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 15, 2022
With no less than seven contracts having an annual salary between 10 and 17 million dollars, the Clippers have a great flexibility in terms of transfer, in particular on this file since Turner shows him a salary of 17.5 million in his last year of contract. And as mentioned by Eric Pincus, not only can Los Angeles send a future first-round draft pick to the Pacers as part of the trade (2028 or 2029), but Clips owner Steve Ballmer will have no problem take out the checkbook in case Turner has to be extended when he becomes a free agent next offseason.
These are all reasons that make this rumor rather credible. And if it were to materialize, the Clippers would recover a profile that is both sought after in the NBA but above all that they do not currently have: a pivot of 2m11 capable of protecting the circle very well while being able to spread the field in attack thanks to his qualities as a shooter. Turning this season to 18 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks per game at 37% from 3-pointers, Turner is currently releasing his career-best numbers, which can obviously allow the Pacers to increase their demand in negotiations if they believe really that Myles is not part of their rebuilding project.
Three months from the NBA Trade Deadline, we don’t expect a transfer to happen within the hour, but as we get closer to the fateful date of February 9, 2023, the name of Myles Turner should come back more and more often in the rumors. And the Clippers will probably never be far away…
Source texte : Bleacher Report