The wildest part of the Myles Turner saga in Milwaukee isn’t the jarring drop-off in production. That almost felt inevitable.
And it’s not even the $83M he’s still owed.
It’s the fact that the Bucks executed the largest waive-and-stretch in NBA history — $113M — to make the Turner signing possible, and Damian Lillard is still a really, really good basketball player.
We’re just entering year two of Milwaukee’s five-year stretch of Dame’s contract, and he’s back in Portland averaging 20 PPG in under 30 minutes a night for a Blazers team that’s won 7 of its first 10 games.
Meanwhile, Turner is averaging 6.7 PPG on 32.9% shooting, while Milwaukee continues to carry a $22.5M annual cap hit for a player producing elsewhere.The Bucks are effectively carrying nearly $50M against the cap this season between Turner and a player who isn’t even on their roster.
And perhaps the most damning part? The writing was already on the wall regarding Giannis’ future in Milwaukee before they ever signed Turner.
Given that context, this has to be one of the biggest front-office fumbles in recent NBA history.
Not sure it reaches Nico Harrison gifting Luka to the Lakers territory, but it deserves to be in the conversation.