The Milwaukee Bucks made an interesting decision when they signed Myles Turner to a four-year, $108.9 million deal.
On the surface, signing Turner to that contract made sense, but waiving and stretching Damian Lillard might not have. Unfortunately, the only way the Bucks could’ve made this work was if they had done exactly that with Lillard, and the front office was willing to take the risk.
However, some believe it was the wrong one, including Yahoo Sports, which named Turner the worst free agency contract of the summer.
“On its own, the contract for Turner is not a bad one. The average annual value of $27.2 million is probably pretty close to an average salary for a starting center. And Turner is probably pretty close to an average starting center, even after he helped the Indiana Pacers to the 2025 NBA Finals last month...
“Because, in order to sign Turner into salary cap space, Milwaukee had to waive and stretch the $113 million left on Damian Lillard's contract. As a result, the Bucks will pay Lillard $22.5 million annually over the next five seasons not to play for them,” they wrote.
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It's tough to suggest that Turner is the worst contract on the free agency market this summer because it isn't his fault that the Bucks decided to get rid of Lillard. It's also unfair to say that the Bucks are paying him a certain amount of money when they're only paying him $108.9 million over four years.
Ultimately, the Bucks had to make a tough choice and decided to do it, hoping to keep them competitive in a below-average Eastern Conference next season.