Myles Turner’s Stunning Loyalty: How Years of Trade Rumors Led to an Unexpected NBA Finals Breakthrough with the Pacers

Few things in this league come wrapped in as big a surprise as Myles Turner starring in the NBA Finals — especially draped in that classic Indiana Pacers blue and gold. See, Turner’s journey’s been peppered with trade whispers and ‘missing piece’ labels so often, most folks pegged him for a nomad, bouncing around instead of standing tall where he was born into this league. Yet, here he is — locked in, loyal, and notching one of the rarest feats in modern basketball: playing over 700 games for the team that drafted him, a club that’s witnessed some of the era’s brightest stars, and now, Turner joining the NBA Finals elite. It’s a saga of grit, patience, and a love for the game played in the same jersey, against the backdrop of trade winds and shifting lineups. And trust me, if you think you know Turner, just wait — his story’s just getting started. LEARN MORE“Continue to be myself, do the things that got me here,” he told Yahoo Sports. “There’s no need, once you get to the Finals stage, don’t switch things. You keep doing all the little things that make you effective in the first place.”“It was a lot of things. You know, my first initial emotions was, you feel a little rejected,” Turner said to Yahoo Sports. “You feel like your value doesn’t hold the same weight you thought it did, but then you start to learn it’s just part of a business.”Yet somehow he’s played the eighth-most games (703) for the team that drafted him — trailing only Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokić, Jaylen Brown, Devin Booker and Jayson Tatum among active players.

Yet somehow he’s played the eighth-most games (703) for the team that drafted him — trailing only Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokić, Jaylen Brown, Devin Booker and Jayson Tatum among active players.

Yet somehow he’s played the eighth-most games (703) for the team that drafted him — trailing only Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokić, Jaylen Brown, Devin Booker and Jayson Tatum among active players.

Yet somehow he’s played the eighth-most games (703) for the team that drafted him — trailing only Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokić, Jaylen Brown, Devin Booker and Jayson Tatum among active players.

Yet somehow he’s played the eighth-most games (703) for the team that drafted him — trailing only Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokić, Jaylen Brown, Devin Booker and Jayson Tatum among active players.

Yet somehow he’s played the eighth-most games (703) for the team that drafted him — trailing only Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokić, Jaylen Brown, Devin Booker and Jayson Tatum among active players.

Yet somehow he’s played the eighth-most games (703) for the team that drafted him — trailing only Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokić, Jaylen Brown, Devin Booker and Jayson Tatum among active players.

Advertisement(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports Illustration)Advertisement“We constantly are sending each other clips of how we can be better in pick-and-roll, how I can help him, how he can help me, whatever the case is,” Haliburton said. “We get along really well. I think that that has given us a lot of success.”