Pacers got scared of the luxury tax after Tyrese Haliburton’s injury and Myles Turner became collateral damage

The Indiana Pacers just spent two and a half months becoming national darlings throughout the NBA playoffs because of their fearlessness and never-quit attitude. It fueled them against the top-seeded Cavaliers, who they knocked off in five games. That was shocking enough on its own. It then carried them through a tough six-game series against the Knicks in which they were heavy underdogs. They proved everyone wrong again. Then they pushed the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games in the NBA Finals — in what ended up being the most exciting Finals matchup since 2016 — and had it not been for Tyrese Haliburton’s devastating Achilles tear in the opening minutes of Game 7, maybe the Pacers are the ones still riding the high of a championship.

But Haliburton’s injury not only sucked the life out of Game 7, and Indiana’s outlook for next season, it also apparently scared the Pacers right out of giving Myles Turner a new contract for next season. The Pacers were widely expected to re-sign Turner — the longest-tenured player on the team — to a new contract, so much so that it had been repeatedly reported that no other team had a chance to steal him from Indiana. 

So it came to everyone’s surprise when news broke Tuesday morning that Turner would be signing a four-year, $107 million deal with the Milwaukee Bucks. He wasn’t just not staying with the team he helped take to the NBA Finals. He was headed to their in-division rival.

Even worse, Turner, by all accounts, didn’t want to leave. The Pacers didn’t offer him a fair enough contract for fear of paying the luxury tax next season. What a gut punch. Turner, who practically wrote an open love letter in the Players Tribune to the city of Indianapolis and the Pacers fanbase in the lead-up to the NBA Finals, was forced out because the Pacers were too cheap and scared to pay their starting center what he was worth and what he deserved.

All the reporting leading up to free agency was that the Pacers were fine dipping into the luxury tax to keep Turner. At least, that was true when the series was tied 1-1 against OKC. It would’ve been the first time Indiana paid the tax since 2005, and at that point in time, the front office probably envisioned the Pacers getting right back to the Finals next season. But Haliburton’s injury clearly changed everything.

Instead of trying to run it back with this nucleus of players for the 2026-27 season when Haliburton will be back healthy, the Pacers have essentially decided not to lock themselves too much into this core with hopes of remaining flexible for the future. In most cases, you can’t fault a team for not wanting to pay the luxury tax for a roster that isn’t going to win a title. But the Pacers aren’t most cases. Sure, they won’t be title contenders next season, but this was a team one Achilles injury away from hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy. They legitimately made the Thunder sweat, and were the only team to force OKC into adjustments from the opening tip of the series. Indiana gave a blueprint on how to beat the Thunder, and they’ve basically just decided to abandon that for the sake of balancing the books.

That’s the new normal in the NBA with a CBA that places suffocating restrictions on high-spending teams. And when your championship window can be closed instantly with one ill-fated injury, like the one Haliburton just suffered, teams get scared of all the ramifications. The Celtics are a good example of that. Jayson Tatum suffered an Achilles tear in the second round, and Boston immediately went into the offseason looking to shed salary. So far, they’ve parted ways with Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, and there have been rumors about other teams interested in prying Derrick White and Jaylen Brown away. The Pacers probably looked at the Celtics and envisioned a fairly similar future for themselves had they paid Turner.

The wild thing is, Turner’s contract with the Bucks is fairly reasonable at around $26.75 million a season. That’s below the expected $30 million a year many expected he would get from the Pacers, and while it’s only a couple million in savings, it would’ve kept Indiana just a hair above the first tax apron. But Indiana decided the risk wasn’t worth it, even if it means parting ways with someone who has been the heart of this Indiana team for so many years.

Remember that 2026 first-round pick the Pacers got back after making a trade with the Pelicans during the NBA Finals? With Turner gone and Haliburton hurt, that could very well be a top-10 lottery pick in what is expected to be a loaded draft next year. Coincidentally, the Pacers made that deal a day after Game 5 of the Finals, which is when Haliburton first picked up a calf strain. That trade now looks like a massive insurance policy and some spooky foreshadowing on Indiana’s part, but it doesn’t make Turner’s departure sting any less.

Haliburton’s injury and the threat of the second tax apron just made Turner collateral damage, and after an exciting run to the NBA Finals that ended on a somber note, this has to fee like salt in the wound to Pacers fans.