Milwaukee Bucks Get Lackluster Grade for Stunning 4-Year Myles Turner Deal, National Media Continues Agenda Against Franchise

Healthy Turner or Hurt Dame

A full season of Turner’s two-way production replaces a player who would not play most of the year, turns 35 in two weeks, and may never be the same after tearing his Achilles. It’s not as though Turner is a bona fide star, but he is an improvement over Dame on the sidelines. It’s reasonable to wager than Turner could far be useful even when Lillard comes back, wherever he ultimately signs, having to shake off rust and vulnerable to further injuries.

Kevin Durant, the most successful instance of Achilles recovery in league history, has himself suffered from increased injury stints. Health issues are prevalent enough already for players in their mid-to-late 30’s.

Moreover, ESPN has for months reported on a potential Giannis Antetokounmpo trade request. Those rumors have died down, but the network continues to engage them. Those same months of constant gossip, culminating years’ open speculation, went hand-in-hand with the insistence that the Bucks don’t have the roster to compete next season. And maybe – well, probably – they still don’t have a clear title contender. Let’s be real. But they have added talent where none was before and the East is wide open due to the additional Achilles’ misfortunes of Boston’s Jayson Tatum and the Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton.

Sure the Bucks need to follow up their aggression at some point – they also needn’t be rash – but isn’t signing Turner exactly the type of all-in maneuver they have been urged to make to have “any chance” of retaining Giannis?

The front office urgently needs to fill out the backcourt, fair enough, but good luck finding a better frontcourt than Giannis, Turner, and Bobby Portis.

In Case of Catastrophe, Turner’s Salary Would Be Asset – Lillard Would Be Gone

Here’s another thing: Lillard’s dead cap hit isn’t tradeable salary, a perfectly just observation. It isn’t desirable to carry around that type of hold years into the future. It’s a problem.

But in observing those things, critics should also consider that Lillard’s contract was set to expire in summer 2027 and that it’s unlikely the Bucks would retain him. Could they trade him before then? Maybe at the ’26-27 midseason deadline. Maybe. His gargantuan expiring salary would make a reasonable trade extremely difficult.

Most likely scenario: Lillard walks for nothing. Having him off the books would be a clear advantage, but still – note walks for nothing. Instead, they’ve essentially turned him into a very tradeable salary, four years and $107 million, even if things don’t work and Giannis asks out. Turner has a player option for the final season.

If they have to tears things down, the Bucks would recoup the draft capital they sacrificed and then some, via picks or NBA talent. And if they’re rebuilding, guess what? Dame’s dead money isn’t important anyway.

Of course, the goal is to avoid that kind of scenario altogether. It isn’t clear it will succeed, but that’s what the Turner is trying to do, immediately improving the roster for at least 2025-26 if not the next season as well, depending on whether Lillard returns to form upon. The great Kobe Bryant, who was 35 when he tore his own Achilles, certainly didn’t.

The Bucks don’t have a perfect scenario available to them, but denying that they’ve made the roster better is dubious at best. In principle, it seems fairest to grade the move based on current outlook, considering a problematic future without giving undue weight to pessimistic outcomes. For now, the Bucks deserve at worst a solid B, as high as an A-minus. Split the difference and call it a B-plus.