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Who the Miami Heat Could’ve Had: Indiana Pacers Forward Myles Turner

Turner had a monster game against the Minnesota Timberwolves Wednesday night.

NOTE: For the rest of the season, Inside The Heat will highlight a player the team had interest in during the offseason but was unable to close the deal. Today, we look at Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers

Indiana Pacers star Myles Turner had one of his best performances of the season Wednesday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, recording 31 points, seven rebounds and four steals. 

Turner’s dunk on Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels drew some noise from NBA fans as well.

Turner is averaging 18.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and a league-leading 2.8 blocks.

It’s hard for Heat fans not to think of what they possibly could have had with Turner. The team was rumored to trade for him in the offseason, but failed to make a move. Some were pleading for Turner to come to Miami after the team’s loss to the Pacers.

Heat forward Caleb Martin had his best game of the season against the Washington Wizards the same night. However, Martin's latest game is an anomaly. He is only averaging 10.4 points, five rebounds and 2.2 assists. In addition, many fans want more size in the starting lineup, which Turner would provide. 

Turner could become a center, which would move Bam Adebayo to power forward. This would give Miami a big man at the five who can score.

Despite speculation, coach Erik Spoelstra is content with Martin in the starting lineup. He praised Martin’s effort after the Heat’s win against the Wizards.

“Caleb was really good down the stretch on both ends of the court.” Spoelstra said. “He’s really developing into a really unique winning basketball player. He does a lot of things that you can recognize if he scores 24, but he does a myriad of things you won’t recognize that don’t show up in the box score.”

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Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.