A couple of years ago, Indiana Pacers’ center Myles Turner would have gotten into a spat with his trolls. However, when he received a $100 Venmo request from a discontented fan on Monday, Turner took it in his stride and dealt with it humorously. He got the Venmo request because of the overtime defeat against the Chicago Bulls.
In reply to the request, Turner sent 1 cent to the troll. Further, he also attached a message to the payment saying “here’s a penny for your thoughts.” This playful quip gained a lot of traction on social media. In fact, Turner reportedly started receiving payments from random fans on Twitter. As of Friday, the total amount has reached $3500.
Myles Turner comments on the incident
The player with the most shot-blocks in NBA this season, Myles Turner, was asked to comment on this whole occurrence. He said, “I’m finally at a point in my career where I can laugh at stuff like that. My first couple years in the league, I would’ve took offense to it. I would’ve been mad, I would’ve wanted to say something back, but I’ve been dealing with this for the past two or three years. I can have a great game, I can have a bad game, they love you and they hate you.”
Myles Turner will match the amount of all the payments he recieves
Moreover, Turner has said that he is going to match all the payments he receives and then donate the amount. All the donations will go to the people affected by the massive Texas snowstorm. The business manager of the 24-year-old will take care of the donations.
Millions of people have been left without heat and electricity in large parts of Texas. In sub-zero temperatures, all the water pipes have frozen, which has resulted in the infrequent water supply. Subsequently, the snowstorm affected Turner’s family too.
Turner’s immediate family affected by the snowstorm:
The snowstorm mildly affected David and Mary Turner (Myles’ parents). When asked about them, he said, “Thankfully, everybody is good. They were both without power and without water for a little while. My parents’ water just got turned on last night, but we have a backup generator that we depend on and it was able to sustain heat for the house, and we had a whole bunch of extra food and everything.”
He continued, “My mom is one of them apocalyptic moms that actually prepares for stuff like this. She’s telling me for years to always have food, blankets, this, this and that. And she came through. She had everything she needed for this time. When all the grocery stores were closed, you couldn’t travel anywhere, they were ready.”
Turner’s immediate family was affected by the Texas snowstorm
As for the initial payments, Myles Turner is pretty elated about this new kind of fan interaction. According to ESPN, he said, “A lot of people have been sending personalized messages and giving me shoutouts, and it’s been a new way for me to connect and a new form of fan engagement for me. Something I feel like hasn’t been done before. So, I want to take it and run with it.”
