Pacers renewed Nemhard early but failed to take advantage of the rookie contract bonus and had to give up Turner

July 5th TA salary expert John Hollinger analyzed the Pacers' loss of Turner and said that the Pacers lost Turner because they forced themselves to a dead end last year after renewing Nemhard's early contract.

Hollinger analyzed in his article last summer: Nemhard was the No. 31 pick in the second round of 2022, and the last two years of the contract are the team's options. The Pacers rejected the team option of Nemhard's rookie contract of 2 million in the last year, and the three-year, 59 million renewal was equivalent to providing a two-year, 57 million renewal contract. Although small market teams are understandably taking timely measures to keep good players, the contract is one year less than the maximum period that can be provided, and the Pacers lost a lot of cap space in the 2025-26 season, which is very dangerous for a team that has never paid a luxury tax.

Hollinger recently wrote that the impact of early renewal of Nemhard has now surfaced, and if the Pacers want to renew Turner at any reasonable market price, the team will definitely pay a luxury tax. Halliburton's injury made the team more sensitive to paying luxury taxes, and eventually the Pacers had to give up renewing the contract with Turner and allow him to sign with the Bucks.