According To ESPN, This Is The Worst Move Made By An NBA Team Since The Offseason

Did your favorite NBA team make the list?

On Monday, ESPN published a piece on the “10 best and 10 worst NBA deals” since last year’s offseason. There were some genuinely head-scratching moves that made it to this list: the Clippers letting go of Norman Powell and getting Bradley Beal (out for the season) and Chris Paul (retired), the Pelicans giving up precious draft capital just to get rookie Derik Queen.

Only one move, however, could be dubbed as the absolute worst. According to ESPN’s Zach Kram, that move was made by the Milwaukee Bucks.

“Milwaukee took the biggest risk of any team last offseason, when it waived the injured Lillard and stretched the remaining $113 million on his contract to acquire Turner in free agency,” Kram wrote. “Turner signed a four-year, $108.9 million deal to replace Brook Lopez next to Giannis Antetokounmpo in the Bucks' frontcourt.”

According to Kram, Turner has yet to prove that the Bucks’ tactics to acquire him were worth it. “In his first season away from Indiana, Turner has posted the worst player efficiency rating of his career and his worst box plus/minus since he was a rookie,” Kram pointed out.

Lest NBA fans forget, the 6-foot-11 Turner has led the league twice in blocks, and throughout his career, he’s also moved closer and closer to a 40.0% shooting clip from beyond the arc. However, something in Milwaukee (the coaching, the fit, the pressure to deliver when franchise player Giannis Antetokounmpo isn’t on the floor for one reason or another) appears to be amiss for the 11-year veteran.

Kram, however, admitted that there could be a silver lining to this stormy situation. “Theoretically, Turner could rebound next season and serve as a proper stretch big next to Antetokounmpo, and the Bucks could return to contention on the strength of that duo.”

That, of course, would depend on the disgruntled Antetokounmpo making a decision to stay put in the Bucks organization after all the tension surrounding his desire to be traded. Next season, it’s possible that Turner will be left to pick up the pieces after the departure of the Greek Freak. Whether Turner would be up to that task remains to be seen.