“I thought the Myles Turner thing was weird” – Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart pick their most surprising offseason move so far originally appeared on Basketball Network.
This year’s NBA offseason hasn’t been as exciting as it was advertised by Shams Charania, who said that it was going to be the craziest one ever.
Advertisement
However, there were certain moves that caught New York Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart off guard, specifically the one of Damian Lillard being waived by the Milwaukee Bucks and Myles Turner signing with them instead of staying with the Indiana Pacers. In regard to Turner, both Brunson and Hart believe it was the right move.
“It has to be Dame. I thought the Myles Turner thing was weird. He just spent like a decade here and all that stuff, then boom, gone,” said Brunson in the latest episode of “The Roommates” show. “What’s crazy about that, I feel like he was on the trading block every year. It was like yeah, we’re looking to trade Myles Turner, he was there for at least five to six years.”
Advertisement
Explaining it from the player’s point of view
Both Brunson and Hart, who went as far as the Eastern Conference finals in this year’s playoffs are all for the former Indiana Pacers big man leaving the team to transfer to a conference rival. That’s because they’re for their colleagues making as much money as possible. As Hart put it, it may be overlooked but NBA players should go where they feel most valued whether that means loyalty is compromised.
“For NBA players, we have such a small window in our lives to make as much money as we can. So in a certain aspect, we have to be kind of selfish in that regard with respect to certain people or certain situations. It’s like you have a team you’ve been in for a long time, you have a great relationship all this and they offer you substantially less amount of money than another team is, I mean a lot of times, you’re either going to go for the money or who believes and value you more,” added Hart.
Advertisement
Turner, who was drafted by the Pacers and spent 10 years with the team, scored over 9,000 points and was a big key piece for them throughout those years.
However, the relationship between both parties wasn’t always smooth, as Indiana constantly put the big man on the trade block.
Despite making it as far as the NBA Finals last season, the newly signed Bucks big man has made the decision to finally end the partnership with the Pacers and go to what he believes is a more competitive environment.
Advertisement
The underwhelming offseason
Aside from the Turner and Lillard saga, there were not many movements around the league. The other big move was Kevin Durant being traded to the Houston Rockets in a league-record seven-team deal but both Brunson and Hart agree that was expected so it wasn’t that much of a surprise.
Advertisement
There’s also the drama between LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers but that was nothing new and had a very predictable ending.
Ultimately, there may have been few moves this offseason but ones that could have major impacts in terms of competition this coming season — especially for Brunson and Hart’s Knicks.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 19, 2025, where it first appeared.