Report: Myles Turner and Indiana Pacers open up contract extension talks

Turner and the Pacers are open to contract extension discussions, per The Athletic

According to a report published by Shams Charania in The Athletic, the Indiana Pacers and center Myles Turner have "opened up," talks about a possible contract extension.

Turner, 26, has spent all eight years of his career with the Pacers and is currently in the final season of a four-year, $80 million contract. He is posting career-best marks in points per game, rebounds per game, and several shooting percentage stats. Playing on the interior more has given Turner a boost in confidence and impact.

"I love his consistency. He's just doing the simple, repeatable things that put him in a strong position to play well and help the team," Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said of Turner's play earlier in the season. He liked everything Turner was doing on both sides of the ball.

According to Charania, the specific type of extension the Pacers and Turner are considering is a renegotiation and extension. A standard veteran extension would give Turner a 120% raise next season and could be as long as four years, but such a contract would likely be available to Turner in free agency from many teams, potentially including the Pacers. There is no need for him to sign a typical veteran extension mid-season, whereas a renegotiation and extension could be better for both Turner and Indiana.

Doing a renegotiation would allow Turner to raise his salary during the 2022-23 season while simultaneously adding future years on to his contract. Only teams that have salary cap space are able to perform such an extension, and the Pacers have over $24 million in room at the moment. Additionally, a player is required to be at least three years into a deal that spans four or more years to be eligible for a renegotiation. Presently, Turner meets the criteria for such an extension. They are fairly rare in the NBA.

A team may raise a player's salary as high as his maximum in a renegotiation so long as they are still under the salary cap after doing so. Turner's maximum salary for the ongoing season is just shy of $37.1 million, and his current salary is $18 million. The Pacers have more salary cap space than the difference between those two numbers ($19.1 million), so they would be permitted to boost Turner's salary all the way to his max this season, if they are so inclined.

The Pacers would not simply do that without getting Turner to add additional years onto his deal, though. And renegotiation-and-extension agreements allow teams to drop a player's salary in the ensuing season by up to 40%, meaning that if Turner had his salary boosted up to the max this season, his salary in 2023-24 could be as low as $22.3 million. There are countless permutations for renegotiation-and-extension deals, but unlike a standard veteran extensions, they present a path for Turner to get enough money to be willing to lengthen his contract before free agency while also giving the Pacers enough creativity to sign Turner to a deal that makes sense in both the short and long term.

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The Pacers are below the salary floor as well. Bumping up Turner's compensation would get the blue and gold closer to the $111.29 million team salary number that they will pay in some form by the end of the season.

Any renegotiated deal for Turner would eat into the Pacers salary cap space, which would limit their flexibility in trades this season. But any trade Indiana makes that uses cap space could limit the dollar amount that is allowed to be added to Turner's deal. The timing of any move the Pacers make in the next few months will have significant ripple effects on their team building strategy involving Turner in both the short and long term.

The deadline for a renegotiation and extension is March 1, 2023, whereas the NBA trade deadline is February 9 of the same year. The Pacers could, theoretically, keep their trade options open with Turner and then circle back on a renegotiation and extension framework once the trade deadline passes, though it's possible the Pacers center and his representation would prefer to get a deal done earlier for clarity and certainty. The timing of the next move involving Turner will be fascinating.

The threat of being able to keep, and extend, Turner's contract could theoretically help the Pacers in trade talks involving the big man. Should any rival team want to poach the 26-year old from the blue and gold, they would have to negotiate with Indiana knowing that the Pacers could simply opt to keep the center via an extension if they don't get what they desire in return. That can only help the Pacers, who would have otherwise been negotiating from a position of weakness since other teams would know that Turner can leave the team for nothing in free agency next summer.

Charania's report also states that extension talks are in an "initial phase," at this time. Additionally, the piece notes that the Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Lakers have expressed interest in Turner via trade.

Turner has been the subject of trade rumors for years, including this offseason and during the ongoing season. He addressed some of those rumors in a conversation with Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN earlier in the campaign. When discussing the reaction to conversation with Wojnarowksi, Turner said, in part, "Me and my team are in a great place, me and the organization are in a great place, and that's all that matters to me."

Turner was drafted 11th overall in 2015 and has led the NBA in blocks per game twice. He is a leader for the Pacers on and off the court this season, and his future will be a topic of conversation until he is traded, his contract is extended, or he signs a new deal next summer.

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