Mavs Trade For Pacers' Myles Turner? The Luka Doncic Fit
The Dallas Mavericks could use an upgrade at a spot or two to bolster the supporting cast around Luka Doncic ahead of the NBA trade deadline.
With the Mavericks continuing to involve Kristaps Porzingis as a power forward, the team has relied on underwhelming options as his frontcourt partner. Dwight Powell wasn't getting it done and n
One of the emerging storylines around the NBA has been the Indiana Pacers' intention to move toward undergoing a potential rebuild. Myles Turner was named among the players who could be on the move, along with Domantas Sabonis and Caris LeVert.
Turner has become a greater focus than the rest of the Pacers' key players in these trade topics. He has emerged as one of the NBA's elite defenders in addition to posting averages of 12.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks. Keep in mind, he's converting 53.1 percent of his field-goal attempts and shooting 39.7 percent from beyond the arc.
“It’s clear that I’m not valued as anything more than a glorified role player here, and I want something more, more opportunity,” Turner told The Athletic in an interview published Thursday.
“I’m trying really hard to make the role that I’m given here work and find a way to maximize it. I’ve been trying to the past two, three seasons,” Turner said. “But it’s clear to me that, just numbers-wise, I’m not valued as more than a rotational role player, and I hold myself in a higher regard than that.”
It's not difficult to understand Turner's frustration with his role. He has logged just a 16.6 percent usage rate this season — ranking seventh on the team among all players who regularly are part of Indiana's rotation.
Turner's highest usage rate within a single season came as a rookie in 2015-16 when it was at 20.7 percent under coach Frank Vogel.
Since Nate McMillan took over in 2016, Turner's usage rate has stayed below the 20 percent threshold in each of his seasons since but stayed above 19 percent — essentially stagnating. It dropped to 18.0 percent in 2019-20 under Nate Bjorkgren and is down further to 16.6 percent under Rick Carlisle.
After hearing out three different coaches since playing for Vogel as a rookie, Turner has seen a continually declining involvement in the Pacers' half-court offense despite improving his efficiency in key areas.
A key example of Turner's perplexing involvement in the Pacers' half-court offense can be seen in his pick-and-pop opportunities. In 2018-19, he led the NBA in pick-and-pop volume (3.2 per game) by a comfortable margin but it dropped to 2.1 per game in 2019-20 and ultimately plummeted to 0.5 per game in 2020-21. Under Carlisle, that figure is at 1.0 per game.
With a clear reluctance to feed Turner the ball in the post against mismatches after drawing a switch, he has been limited to relying heavily on spot-up, running the floor in transition, cutting, and crashing the boards when playing alongside Sabonis.
Turner has become quite comfortable playing on the perimeter and attacking off-the-catch, whether the situation calls for knocking down a contested jumper or putting it on the floor to get to the rim. However, the idea is that playing as the only big on the court would open up play finishing opportunities inside the perimeter — allowing him to play a complete game as a big.
“I’ve been given many roles in the years that I’ve been here, and I feel like I’ve been able to produce at a high level in the roles I’ve been given,” Turner said. “I’ve shown that I can do the things they ask me to do, and I think it’s time to put that all together and be a more prominent night-in, night-out guy on the offensive side of the ball instead of someone who is asked to be a floor spacer and hide in the shadows.”
The Mavericks need the elite rim protection that Turner brings to the table. He would certainly be a substantial talent upgrade offensively over the options the team has at their disposal currently. However, could Dallas balance out opportunities in the offense for Kristaps Porzingis and Turner?
Luka Doncic would be an ideal playmaker for Turner to complement as a ball screener and play out of spot-up situations. However, Porzingis has sought more involvement inside the perimeter of his own, too.
Turner isn't asking to be dumped the ball on the low block over and over again like he's Shaquille O'Neal and he's also not asking to be traded, either. However, receiving 19 total possessions where he takes a field goal out of a rim roll in 26 games isn't cutting it.
There are methods of getting creative with staggering playing time for Porzingis and Turner. One of the angles that could benefit the Mavericks, however, is that Porzingis is bound to miss games and Turner can be a prime fill-in as the clear-cut focus of the frontcourt on those nights.
A key difference with a Porzingis-Turner frontcourt compared to the pairing with Sabonis is that Porzingis is a much more potent perimeter shooting threat. When Sabonis spaces out to the weak-side corner, the defense can pre-rotate the low-man to pressure Turner on the roll. That is challenging to do if Sabonis is more of a threat to knock down jumpers.
Now, where it gets complicated for the Mavericks is coming up with a sufficient trade package worthy of the Pacers' attention. Dallas simply lacks the available draft assets or immediate impact players for the team to appeal to Indiana. Meanwhile, there is a lack of intriguing younger players to be able to offer altogether.
Even if the Mavericks were willing to part with a talent like Jalen Brunson, the Pacers would not be getting younger since he's also 25-years-old. While perceptions of players change as their careers unfold, Indiana did decide to pass on Brunson in the 2018 NBA Draft in favor of Aaron Holiday.
The center position is one where the market is challenging to gauge. Not many teams tend to need to acquire one and if there are some teams who 'could' use one, they may not be actively seeking to make a move.
For example, the Golden State Warriors could take their already elite defense to another level by acquiring Turner. His ability to hit shots from deep, drive from the perimeter, and play finish off the ball would elevate the offense further. But would they want to part with James Wiseman to get a deal done? Right now, early reports indicate the answer is no.
The Pacers are not looking to dump Turner, either. Fielding calls is much different than trying to get rid of a player. He is under contract through the 2022-23 season and will be an unrestricted free agent after that point.
“I admire that [Turner] wants to get better, and I think he’s the kind of player that will work every single summer to get better too,” said Pritchard. “He’s a modern-day big, and those guys are going to be valuable. I’m sure at the end of his contract, he’ll have a lot of suitors.”
It wouldn't be easy for the Dallas Mavericks to pull off a trade for Myles Turner given the restrictive nature of what it is they have to offer the Indiana Pacers. Regardless, it's absolutely something they should look to do.
