The Atlanta Hawks traded point guard Jeff Teague to his hometown team, the Indiana Pacers in a three-team deal with the Utah Jazz. Who won and who lost?
The day before the 2016 NBA Draft, the Indiana Pacers, the Atlanta Hawks and the Utah Jazz pulled off a massive three-team trade involving two starting point guards and a 2016 lottery pick.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical of Yahoo! Sports, the Hawks traded point guard Jeff Teague to the Indiana Pacers, the Pacers traded point guard George Hill to the Utah Jazz, and the Jazz sent their No. 12 overall pick in Thursday’s 2016 NBA Draft to Atlanta.
This trade signifies several things:
1.) Teague wasn’t planning on re-signing with the Hawks next summer when he hit free agency. Atlanta did him right by sending Teague to his hometown team in Indianapolis in exchange for a first round pick via Utah.
2.) Indiana was done dealing with Hill’s lackluster handle, and the Pacers’ front office thinks that Teague will bring more stability to the point guard position for Indiana next postseason.
3.) Utah knows it needs to upgrade its play at point guard to even stand a chance at making the 2017 Western Conference Playoffs. Hill is more than capable of getting a solid team to the playoffs with his play at the point.
While all three organizations are still dealing with the ramifications of this blockbuster trade, here are the winners and the losers of the Teague/Hill trade less than 36 hours from the start of the 2016 NBA Draft.
Next: Winner: Jeff Teague