The Indiana Pacers and center Myles Turner have opened up contract extension discussions and are exploring a potential new deal, league sources with direct knowledge of the discussions who are unauthorized to speak publicly on the matter tell The Athletic.

In his eighth season with the franchise, Turner is having arguably the best campaign of his Pacers tenure, averaging career highs across the board with 16.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 54.1 field-goal percentage and 41.7 percent from 3-point range to go with 2.1 blocks per night. 

For Turner, this season has been the return to his natural position at center, which he has not played in five years. Behind him, their star guard Tyrese Haliburton, standout rookie Benn Mathurin and a solid supporting cast, the Pacers are contending for a playoff berth, currently at 16-16 and the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Pacers have the ability to reach a renegotiation-and-extension with Turner due to currently having roughly $25 million in salary cap space. The Pacers can offer Turner up to $19.1 million more this year on top of his $18 million salary to get him to his individual max of $37.1 million for the 2022-23 season alone, and then drop his salary in the following seasons of a potential new contract.