NBA Trade Deadline: Hawks trade Shelvin Mack to Jazz

The Atlanta Hawks have livened up NBA trade deadline day by sending Shelvin Mack to the Utah Jazz.

The NBA trade deadline is starting to pick up steam, as minor rumors continue but actual deals are taking place. The Detroit Pistons have landed Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton from the Houston Rockets which gives them the deal of the day so far, and now the Hawks have kept things going by sending Shelvin Mack to the Jazz.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports has reported that in exchange for Mack, the Hawks are getting a second-round draft pick — a fair return for a player who has only appeared in 24 games with an average of 7.5 minutes a night this season.

The Jazz have been involved in NBA trade rumors due to their need of a point guard for a while. Even with respectable players like Trey Burke, Raul Neto and Dante Exum (when he’s healthy and made his return), point guard is still a weakness for them. Mack won’t totally alter this by any means, but he’s at least another combo guard to add some depth and playoff experience to such a young backcourt.

The key element of this trade, though, isn’t necessarily the players involved. Jeff Teague has been mentioned in trade talks for quite some time and as the Jazz were a team linked to him, it’s safe to assume that they only traded for Mack as they weren’t able to acquire Teague. While they’ll still be pleased with this trade after only losing a second-round pick, Teague would have certainly been the top choice.

This reaffirms the possibility of the Hawks keeping their core intact after all, as they are now reportedly letting others know that they don’t want to lose key players. Perhaps after so much discussion and speculation, Al Horford and Teague will be off limits as the hours to the NBA trade deadline wind down.