Paul George, Myles Turner Make Deadly Long-Term Duo For Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are just 14-14 throughout the start of the 2016-17 NBA season, but their future appears to be obvious. Paul George and Myles Turner are both young stars in the league and are going to make a deadly duo for the Pacers to build around moving forward.
According to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Pacers are not interested in even listening to trade offers for George, despite the rumors that have surrounded him. He also mentioned that the Pacers want to build around George and Turner long-term. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
George is without question one of the rising stars in the NBA. After coming back from a gruesome broken leg, George has proven that he is still a franchise player and one of the most lethal two-way players in the league.
Turner, on the other hand, is in his second season with the Pacers. He showed potential last season, but attacked the offseason and has come back much better than he was as a rookie. Indiana needed to find a legitimate second scorer to place alongside George, and it appears that Turner may be their guy.
Throughout the course of the 2016 season thus far, George has averaged 21.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game. He has shot 44.9 percent from the field overall and knocked down 39.4 percent of his three-point shots. George has also locked up on the defensive end of the court, averaging 1.9 steals per game.
Lead us to the promised land, @Yg_Trece. All of Indy is behind you. #GoPacers pic.twitter.com/UTEyruCRPA
— Let’s Go Pacers! (@pacers_content) December 11, 2016
Indiana has seen Turner average 15.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game while shooting 53.7 percent from the field and 36.6 percent from the three-point line. Turner has taken his game to a new level on both sides of the court and the Pacers have to feel confident about his ability to become an All-Star in the future.
Add in the supporting cast that Indiana could be keeping around them long-term, with pieces like Jeff Teague, Glenn Robinson III, and Thaddeus Young.
Nate McMillan inherited an extremely good team from Frank Vogel and should be very happy about what he has working for him. Indiana was expected to be one of the top four teams in the Eastern Conference this season. Unfortunately, they haven’t shown that consistently yet but there have been flashes of dominant play early on this season.
Looking ahead at the next five years for the Pacers, there are endless possibilities. George has a new contract needed after next season and Larry Bird will have some money to play around with to sign more free agents to join George and Turner. If they can lock George up long-term, everything else opens up.
Bird has done an excellent job rebuilding the Pacers into a contender once again. After losing Lance Stephenson, David West, Roy Hibbert, and more from their Eastern Conference Championship teams, they could have gone without being contenders for years. Instead, Bird took action and moved some players and has enough talent on the team to make some noise in the near future.
The Craft: Myles Turner has all the tools to be a star in the NBA (by @RobMahoney) https://t.co/KiAtswACq5 pic.twitter.com/0RIaZA93XW
— The Crossover (@TheCrossover) December 8, 2016
It will be interesting to see what ends up happening over the next few seasons for the Pacers. Things can either go extremely well, or the exact opposite for Indiana.
Oklahoma City saw Kevin Durant leave in free agency this past offseason. That would be the exact feeling that the Pacers would have. George and Durant are similar players and no one expected that Durant would end up leaving the Thunder.
All of that being said, there is no doubt that the Pacers are set for a long time with George and Turner leading the way. Turner still has a lot of potential to grow into, while George is just hitting his prime. Indiana fans should be extremely excited about the future of their future.
Do you think the Indiana Pacers will win an NBA championship within the next five years? What are your thoughts on the duo of Paul George and Myles Turner long-term? Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below!
[Featured Image by Darron Cummings/AP Images]
