According to Gregg Doyel of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required), the offered up to $95MM over four years for before he agreed to sign with the . Earlier reporting suggested Indiana didn’t go above roughly $60MM over three years.
Doyel shares that tidbit within a column defending the Pacers and castigating Turner’s camp for referring to Indiana’s “aversion to the tax” in leaks to ESPN, portraying the four-year, $95MM bid as a strong offer. Given the slant of the piece, it’s worth taking the report with a grain of salt.
Even if the Pacers did get up to $95MM, that offer would have come in quite a bit below the $107MM deal Turner is getting in Milwaukee and would also fall well short of the going rate for quality starting centers in recent years — and have gotten $30MM and $28MM annually on their most recent extensions, for example. Even Naz Reid, who has been a reserve in recent years, received $25MM per year over the weekend.
Here are a few more notes and rumors related to free agency: