"Stop crying": Fever diehards react as UConn fans take offense over Myles Turner's bold statement

Myles Turner shared his thoughts about basketball on Thursday in The Players’ Tribune. Among other things, he emphasized why “Indianapolis, Indiana, is the basketball capital.” Turner named the Indiana Pacers’ back-to-back playoff runs in the NBA and the Indiana Fever’s booming popularity behind Caitlin Clark as reasons behind his statement.

UConn fans promptly disagreed, noting that there are 18 championship banners in Storrs, Connecticut. Fever diehards reacted to comments from the Connecticut faithful:

“no s**t ofc an NBA player doesn’t give a dam about ur college programs… indy running s**t right now u got ur chain snatched b**ch stop crying”

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One fan said:

“quotes talking like pro sports organizations give a shit about your college programs”

Another fan added:

“Indy's where the hardwood legends are forged”

@CroghanWilliam continued:

“Are no Connecticut fans able to understand we are talking pro ball?”

@Young_Light317 commented:

“We are basketball”

Myles Turner added that other cities that could make such a claim could be Minnesota and New York. When Turner made his comments, he was referring to pro basketball. Indiana has the Pacers and the Fever, while Minnesota is the home city of the Lynx and the Timberwolves. The Knicks and the Liberty call The Big Apple home.

For Connecticut fans, Turner’s claims hold no water. The state calls itself “the basketball capital of the world." UConn supporters blasted the NBA star because the Fever and the Pacers have one championship combined, while the Huskies have 18, including three in the last three years.

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Myles Turner thought the Indiana Pacers could have beaten the Boston Celtics in last year’s playoffs

Myles Turner and the Indiana Pacers lost in four games to the Boston Celtics in the 2024 Eastern Conference finals. As the No. 6 team in the postseason, they gave the No. 1-ranked eventual champs a big scare before going down.

Turner had this to say on The Players’ Tribune about what he thought of the series loss:

“Boston swept us, and yeah it sucked. On my life though I thought we could have won that series. We felt like we easily could’ve been heading back to Boston up 3–1, instead of home for the summer.”

The Pacers’ only decisive loss was in Game 2 when the Celtics whipped them 126-110. Games 1, 3 and 4 were decided by 11 points combined. Myles Turner was right. Indiana could have easily been up 3-1 before the series returned to Boston.

The Celtics advanced because they made clutch plays on both ends. Still, Turner rued how differently things could have been had they played just a little better.

Edited by Michael Macasero