When fans of the Detroit Pistons were scouring the list of potential free agents at the beginning of the 2024-25 season, Myles Turner was immediately a player that stuck out.
I wrote about him as a possibility way back in November, when the Pistons were still unsure about the long-term future of their pair of young centers.
A slow start from Jalen Duren cranked up these rumors and many Pistons fans made Myles Turner their top free agent target.
But Duren picked things up, had a pretty good run in the playoffs and Isaiah Stewart evolved into one of the best rim protectors in the league, which threw cold water on the Turner chatter.
Stewart and Turner then got into a little dust up this season that led to Beef Stew being ejected, re-igniting one of Detroit’s oldest and most bitter rivalries in the process.
That’s why it was somewhat surprising to hear Turner’s name mentioned as a possibility for the Pistons on a recent episode of the Bill Simmons podcast. The hosts were running through some what-ifs and landed on “what if the Pistons offered a four-year deal to Turner?”
In a vacuum, I love Turner, as he’s one of a few centers who can both spread the floor and protect the rim, but there are some real challenges to bringing him to the Pistons.
The cost of Myles Turner
After Cade Cunningham made the All-NBA team, the Pistons lost a good chunk of cap space and will now only have around $17-18 million to use this summer, and that’s before they bring back any of their own free agents.
The Pistons would likely have to go well into the luxury tax to sign Turner away from Indiana and it would probably cost them all of their own free agents.
There’s also the issue of overpaying in free agency, which is usually the case, especially if the guy is coveted by several teams. I recently wrote about the problem the Kings are having right now because they overpaid Domantas Sabonis.
You can’t pay a premium for the center position unless the guy is a superstar, so would paying Myles Turner like that be smart? He would be the Pistons second-highest paid player, so do you think Turner is the second-best player on a title team? Me either.
One of the reasons Turner is so valuable right now is that he's making just $19 million a year, which is a fair amount for a very good role player. Turner is the perfect 3rd or 4th guy, but the Pistons would have to pay him like their 2nd best player.
What happens to Isaiah Stewart?
Given that Jalen Duren is up for an extension this summer, and the Pistons already have $15 million tied up in Isaiah Stewart, signing Turner would put a ton of cap space in the center position, something I am not sure is wise in the modern NBA.
One of them would almost certainly have to go, so signing Turner would mean trading Stewart or Duren.
If the Pistons are planning to give Duren $30 million a year in an extension, then trading him and signing Turner might not be a bad idea, but if they can have both Duren and Stewart combined for around the same cost is Turner, then I’d lean towards value and depth and I think Trajan Langdon would too.
Turner is certainly better than either of them right now, but that may not be true in 2-3 years, and the Pistons could possibly have two centers for the price of one Turner depending on what Duren’s extension looks like.
Can Turner and Duren co-exist?
In this hypothetical, are we playing Duren and Turner at the same time? Is Turner now a stretch four? A backup center? Does Duren move to the bench?
I don’t see a fit here, as one of the most appealing things about Turner is his ability to protect the rim, which you diminish by playing him with another big who rarely leaves the paint.
I like Myles Turner and he’d be a great addition to the Pistons in a vacuum, but there are too many question marks for this to be a reality.