Myles Turner reflects on his first season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Milwaukee Bucks made two big changes in the offseason.
First, they waived and stretched the contract of Damian Lillard after he suffered an Achilles injury in the playoffs. Lillard was going to miss the entire 2025-26 season and had $103 million left on his contract over the next four seasons.
Instead of opting to wait it out with the 34-year-old guard, the Bucks decided to stretch the money out across more years, giving them more flexibility in the offseason to retool around Giannis Antetokounmpo.
They then moved to sign Myles Turner to a four-year deal worth $107 million. Turner previously played for the Indiana Pacers, the team that knocked the Bucks out of the playoffs in the past two seasons.
Turner Comments On His First Season
“It was definitely a rude awakening,” Turner said in an interview with The Athletic and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel before the end of the regular season.
Turner played in 71 games, averaging 11.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.5 assists. His points were the lowest since his rookie season and his rebounds were the lowest of his career.
He also had 1.6 blocks per game, also the lowest since his rookie season.
“It was difficult throughout the year, obviously, with all the injuries and whatnot. But one thing I was really encouraged by was, honestly, the spirit of all of the guys, man. I feel like, especially on the players’ side, guys had the right approach, and that’s made it more easy to go about the days for myself. It’s obviously been a rough adjustment, but I think that kind of just comes with anything new.”
Turner proved to be available throughout the season, but Milwaukee battled a number of injuries, most importantly to Giannis Antetokounmpo, who played in a career low 36 games.
How Did Myles Turner Fit?
The Bucks were only slightly better with Turner on the court than they were with him off.
Removing low leverage minutes, Milwaukee had a -.59 net rating with him on the floor and a -6.3 net rating with him off.
The good news for Bucks fans is that Giannis and Turner played well next to each other as the two posted a +6.3 net rating. It was the only positive two-man net rating for Turner and a teammate he played over 160 minutes next to.
The Bucks could look drastically different once again next season as a decision still has to be made on the future of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Trade rumors have swirled and Giannis has made it clear that he wants to compete for a championship, while also making it clear that the Bucks are further away from a title after missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade.