How Pacers’ Myles Turner took an angry fan’s Venmo request and turned it into a Texas fundraiser

Myles Turner is known for his monster rejections at the rim, but now the Pacers center is giving a big assist to those in need.

Turner took a trolling message from an angry fan and turned it into a fundraiser for Texas residents who have been hit hard by severe winter weather and power outages. It all started following the Pacers’ Monday night overtime loss to the Bulls. A fan sent Turner a $100 Venmo request multiple times because Turner had what the fan considered a subpar performance.

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“I have never seen anybody have the audacity to talk mess through Venmo, like a financial app,” Turner told reporters Saturday. “So that was ridiculous to me. That was hilarious.”

After ignoring the first couple requests, Turner finally replied to the fan by sending along one cent. The caption with the payment read, “Here’s a penny for your thoughts.”

It was just a bit of online fun in Turner’s mind, but suddenly he began receiving one- and two-cent payments through Venmo with phrases like “a penny for your thoughts” and “here’s my two cents.” The total amount eclipsed $200 in just a few hours.

“That’s a lot of pennies,” Turner said. “I was like, ‘That’s a lot of people that just got behind this.'”

In a follow-up tweet, Turner, a Texas native who starred at the University of Texas for one season before heading to the NBA, declared he would match the Venmo response and donate all of the money to families dealing with the difficult conditions.

“It just kind of hit home to me because it was my people,” Turner said. “It was people that are going through a lot. I’ve spent a lot of time in San Antonio. I obviously went to the University of Texas down in Austin. I have a lot of family in Houston, so I know people are going through a lot, and I was going to do whatever I could to help.”

As of Saturday afternoon, Turner said, donations had reached $12,235. He plans to let the fundraiser keep rolling through Monday. He has not yet decided where he will send the funds, but he will make sure the money “goes to good use.”

For anyone looking to contribute, Turner’s Venmo username is @Original_Turner.

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