{"id":790038,"date":"2023-12-13T16:54:43","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T21:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?p=790038"},"modified":"2023-12-13T17:11:15","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T22:11:15","slug":"true-story-myles-turner-legos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/true-story-myles-turner-legos\/","title":{"rendered":"The True Story Behind Myles Turner’s Dedication to His Legos Craft\u2014from Childhood to the Pacers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Less than 24 hours after dropping 20 points, 12 boards and two blocks in the Pacer’s second game of the regular season, Myles Turner is back on the hardwood. Well, not that type of court. One of his own creation: an ’03 Lego NBA Ultimate Arena Set.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the latest build in the two-time Blocks champion\u2019s overtly extensive Lego collection: the set allows users to shoot baskets with Lego minifigures via exclusive spring pieces placed in the figurine\u2019s legs. The 1.5-inch figures resemble the League\u2019s stars from two decades ago, including Tracy McGrady, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Antoine Walker, Shaquille O\u2019Neal, Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant. They are all represented in their respective ’03-04 uniforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI actually just finished this, the one from when I was a kid,\u201d Turner says of the Lego NBA Set. \u201cI just got it on eBay and I’m like man this is nostalgia, this is one of the first sets I ever had. I knocked that out within three-four hours, put all that together. I\u2019ve got a little mini-figure of myself, I just take the legs off and put myself on the court and flick it back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Those short four hours were a full-circle moment for Turner. Merging two of his greatest passions is a reality a younger version of himself would be baffled to see realized. As a kid, Turner\u2019s parents prevented him from playing video games frequently, and going over to his friend’s house for a Halo 3 marathon was a bit like walking on eggshells. Thankfully, friends like Robert had a backroom stocked full of buckets of Legos.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo while they were playing video games, I would always go to the back room and start building stuff and just make all my little imaginations and all this stuff come to real life,\u201d Turner tells SLAM. \u201c I just never really looked back. My dad\u2019s the one who really introduced me to it. And I kind of took it and made it my own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of staring at a screen with a controller in hand, Turner\u2019s father wanted his son to have a more hands-on approach to his burgeoning creativity. The answer was Bionicles. Housed within a cylindrical plastic container, the Lego robot figures captivated Turner and pre-teens alike for over two decades before being discontinued in 2010.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

People think it\u2019s gimmicky having Legos around the house. I actually do this shit bruh.<\/p>\n\u2014 Pacers’ Myles Turner <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

To accompany his biomechanical collection, Turner built all types of vessels; from pirate ships and rockets to ships from movies or shows he was enamored with as a kid. Except, he wasn\u2019t using the step-by-step construction booklet that typically accompanies a Lego set. Turner was building his creations straight from scratch and memory.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pacers center sees several parallels between his dominance on the hardwood and his ability to create his own Lego constructions. His ethos is creative, determined, precise, and exacting. He\u2019s the conductor and the pieces are his orchestra, much like how the paint and the ball are his symphony.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think of myself when I\u2019m on the basketball floor like I\u2019m an artist and what I do on the floor itself is my art, it\u2019s how I create. The stuff you work on in the gym, in the lab in the offseason, is the stuff that you put on display when you\u2019re actually in the middle of an NBA game,\u201d Turner tells SLAM. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of the same thing (with Legos). All the stuff that you come up with in your head, you\u2019re able to take a few pieces and throw something together. And it\u2019s like, \u2018Damn I really did that.\u2019 It\u2019s something to be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From the minds of kids on Christmas day to professional builders on social media, every Lego fan has at one point pondered the idea of crafting a Lego City that sprawls across various tables. As a self-proclaimed Lego BricksConnoisseur\u2014peep his IG bio\u2014and a Lego VIP Member, Myles\u2019 immense connection to the brand wouldn\u2019t be complete without his own form of a clad-brick city landscape.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople think it\u2019s gimmicky having Legos around the house. I actually do this shit bruh,\u201d Turner says. \u201cIt\u2019s fun for me, I do this shit all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Next summer, Turner plans to fully expand his own Lego City to an area in his Austin, Texas home that\u2019s more accommodating to the expansive metropolitan area. Doctor Strange\u2019s Sanctum Sanctorum, the Daily Bugle from Spider-Man, a windmill turbine and the 6,000-piece Hogwarts Castle from Harry Potter<\/em>\u2014which he\u2019s currently in the midst of\u2014will each connect in their own unique way.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a whole bunch of little things that I want to do to make them all come together,\u201d Turner tells SLAM. \u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of it because you can make it all your own. You don\u2019t have to follow anyone else’s guide or regime, and that\u2019s the fun part about this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amidst the lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic, Legos became both a popular pastime and collector’s item for millions of us stuck at home. Met by the rise of platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels, Lego creators began to showcase their extensive set-ups and jaw-dropping collections. However, Myles had already established his brick fandom well before Lego saw a social resurgence. In 2018 he posted a timelapse of him completing the 2,000-piece Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer over seven-straight hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The long grey Empire ship is just one of the many vessels in Turner\u2019s armada of Lego constructions. Walk up the jet-black spiral staircase in Turner\u2019s Austin home and you\u2019ll find a sleek metal and glass shelf outfitted with Lego versions of the Death Star, a Clone Wars Gunship, Luke Skywalker\u2019s X-Wing, the Millennium Falcon, the Batwing and Batmobile. The shelf sits tucked behind a wall that also displays a two-foot-tall Lego Mario figure, a nod to Turner\u2019s extensive video game fandom.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Directly ahead of the upstairs entrance sits further display cases that showcase a detailed look at Cinderella\u2019s Castle, a WWE belt, the Home Alone house and the beginnings of his aforementioned Lego City. Hundreds of exclusive and highly valuable minifigures, like the original $3,000 Boba Fett figure, are stacked in neat rows behind a translucent plexiglass case on another table. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon, he\u2019ll be adding a foot-tall Lego R2-D2 and AT-AT Walker, which he holds up on our Zoom call showcasing four fully complete legs and a half-built chassis.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe biggest thing for me in this Lego thing is, it\u2019s not gimmicky. It’s not like I’m just trying to go out here and get a sponsorship. This is actually something I love and I’m passionate about,\u201d Turner tells SLAM. \u201cThe ingenuity that goes behind all of it, the imagination that people have and just the different lanes that you open up and different worlds that you can open up stepping into this space is unreal. I have a lot of fun with that, man. It’s been it’s been real dope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While each of the latter ships is extravagant in its own right, Turner credits his most difficult build to the 9,000-piece 1:200 scale replica of The Titanic \u2013 which occupies the top-most section of the \u201cship shelf\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

9,000 Pieces And Many Cuss Words Later\u2026 @LEGO_Group<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/tqroxP8NPH<\/a><\/p>— Myles Turner (@Original_Turner) March 15, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>