This will be a whole new free-agency experience for Evan Turner.

The enigmatic shooting guard was an afterthought two years ago coming off a dreadful postseason run with the Pacers, barely seeing the floor and not producing much when he did. The biggest news he made that postseason was a reported fistfight with head case Lance Stephenson that ended with Turner being dragged out of practice by teammates.

“This stuff happens, but the timing wasn’t ideal,” a witness told Yahoo Sports.

It wasn’t for the Pacers, who fell to the Heat in the conference finals, and it was not for Turner, who eventually settled for a two-year, $7 million deal with the Celtics. Turner was the No. 2 pick by the 76ers in the 2010 NBA Draft after an outstanding career at Ohio State.

But he never became the star Philadelphia hoped. He was labeled a bust and dealt to Indiana not long before that 2014 postseason that confirmed the label that most suspected.

Now, the 27-year-old Turner will be a hot commodity when free agency opens next month after revitalizing his career in Boston.

“You know, as you grow older, you get more comfortable,” Turner told Complex Magazine recently.

“After a while, you just don’t care about what people say or think. I already know who I am, I know what I can do, and whatever I can’t do, I’m going to work my best on it…

“In terms of being myself, if you don’t like it you can kiss my a–. It’s as serious as that, too. People take things too seriously and worry about what the outside world thinks. Sometimes I think the best thing in life is you stop following a pattern, or a book, or you stop looking at the walls to a certain extent.”

The questions about Turner are two-fold: Was his success a product of playing under Celtics coach Brad Stevens, who has a well-earned reputation for getting the most out of his players? And can his game continue to thrive when his game runs counter to what most believe is the future of the NBA?

The 3-point shot and the spacing it both thrives off of and creates is what most teams are looking for now. That’s not Turner, who has averaged just above one 3-point shot attempt per game over his career. He was asked about that very phenomenon.

“I want to speak on that, actually,” Turner told Complex with what the author described as an irritated smile.

“People say, ‘You can’t shoot the 3.’ But I can defend, I can pass, rebound, score. You got guys that all they can do is shoot and nothing else. Like, how a– backwards is that? Only in America can you be a lacrosse player and judge basketball. Or you’ve never played basketball and say, ‘Yeah, I was working on the stock market — [stuff] wasn’t working so now I’m in the NBA judging talent.’ [The media] can write stuff on something they have no clue about.

“The future is in the mid-range. The mid-range is where the money’s at, man. I think the 3-point shot opens up the court and everything like that, but MJ and all those great players made all of their money out of the mid-range. So I’m not sorry for that at all. Evan M. Turner. For sure, ‘M’ stands for mid-range. Anywhere within 15 feet is cash. I’ll try to get better at 3s, but that’s my game.”

Those doubts mean Turner is unlikely to be a max player this offseason, even with the salary cap pointed up. But he is also far from the afterthought he was two years prior. There will be options for him, and returning to the Celtics is a possibility. But Boston faces an intriguing offseason with cap space and draft picks, and their sights will at least start higher than Turner.

“I think it’s dope that this free agency I have the opportunity to choose where I want to go,” Turner told the magazine. “I can choose fully what kind of situation I’ll go into. So I’m really excited about that for sure.

“I don’t want to ever be in a losing situation or anything like that,” Turner continued. “So I always wish they would pay [a lot of money], but if you’re getting your butt kicked six months out of the year, that’s no fun at all. I definitely want to be on a contender, a playoff team, and be able to help heavily.”