Hawks deal Teague to Pacers, get Jazz’s No. 12 overall pick
Dennis Schroder will become Atlanta’s starting point guard after spending three seasons backing up Jeff Teague.
Published on Wednesday, 6/22/16, at 4:46 p.m. Eastern.
In a three-team trade first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, Atlanta will send veteran point guard Jeff Teague to Indiana. The Pacers will ship their veteran PG George Hill to Utah, while the Hawks acquire the Jazz’s first-round pick, the No. 12 overall selection.
Due to salary-cap reasons, no trades are official until July.
Teague, who has one year remaining on the four-year, $32 million deal he inked three years ago, was Atlanta’s first-round pick (No. 19) out of Wake Forest in the 2009 NBA Draft. He helped the Hawks to seven postseason appearances, averaging 13.3 points and 4.7 assists in 62 playoff games.
Teague was the second-longest tenured Hawk behind only unrestricted free agent Al Horford. He played in 79 regular-season games this past year, averaging 15.7 points and 5.9 assists per game.
Teague made his first All-Star appearance two seasons ago when he averaged 15.9 points and 7.0 APG. He wasn’t happy about sitting out the fourth quarter of Games 2 and 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Cleveland behind Dennis Schroder, who now becomes the Hawks’ starting PG.
Wojnarowski’s sources indicated that the Pacers plan to sign Teague to an extension. He has to be thrilled with the deal that returns him to his hometown of Indianapolis, where he spent his prep days playing at Pike High School.
Teague was an outstanding player for the Hawks from the day he arrived. In franchise history, he currently ranks fifth in assists (2,671), fifth in assists per game (5.5 APG), seventh in steals (588), eighth in 3-pointers (420) and eighth in 3-pointers attempted (1,184).
Schroder, who already has three seasons under his belt at the age of 22, appeared in 80 games for Atlanta last year, averaging 11.0 points, 4.4 assists, 2.6 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 2.3 turnovers in an average playing time of 20.3 minutes per game.
With the addition of the No. 12 overall pick, the Hawks now have a pair of first-rounders. They own the No. 21 overall selection and also have two second-round picks.
