1. Jeff Teague
This won’t be easy for the Mavericks to pull off by any means, so this idea is mainly here for the sake of being ambitious. Last season, Jeff Teague broke out as a first time All-Star as the Atlanta Hawks soared to 60 wins and he averaged 15.9 points on 46 percent shooting, seven assists and 1.7 steals per game. He was a vital piece of the Hawks’ Spurs-like offense, yet that isn’t quite the same this season.
After his 2014-15 campaign, he’s underperforming. Besides the fact that all his averages have dropped, his efficiency has fallen. Until a recent hot spell that has raised his field goal percentage to 43.4 and his three-point shot to 40, he hasn’t been quite the same. The offense just isn’t as prolific with him on the floor, and the Hawks are actually notably better off with backup point guard Dennis Schroder running the show and moving the ball instead.
Their offensive rating is 108.3 with Schroder and only 103.9 with Teague. Furthermore, as the offensive rating of the Hawks’ opponents drops by 7.3 with Schroder as well, Atlanta’s net rating rises to +9.7 with him in the game. As for Teague, their net rating plummets to -2.4.
With this trend, the Hawks are looking to move Teague elsewhere, as Chris Mannix of Yahoo! Sports has highlighted.
The problem for the Mavericks is finding a deal good enough to entice the Hawks. If they want to take 2016-17 as a year to really compete with the top teams in the West and gather some key pieces as Dirk nears retirement, a point guard upgrade is a good place to start.
Yet, even though the Hawks are shopping Teague, they won’t let go of him easily. Schroder is going to start but Atlanta can still bring a fair return on Teague, despite his regression this season.
This is where the sacrifice the Mavericks will have to make becomes clear. Is there any way they can combine the guards they have to bring in Teague? Or maybe can they use a young player with potential like Justin Anderson and package him with Williams? This gives the Hawks a new backup in Williams and another promising perimeter piece in Anderson, which could intrigue them seeing as Kent Bazemore is set for free agency and has earned a big contract with a career year in 2015-16.
If these scenarios don’t work, though, they’re going to need to give up someone of far more importance. And they won’t want to send away a player like Chandler Parsons who’s starting to find his offensive rhythm.
Ultimately, it doesn’t look like this trade is going to happen. As good as it could be to give Dallas a replacement over the older and not-so-elite points guards they have, they just don’t have many assets to out-do other bidders. Still, it’s certainly worth them trying.