NBA Trade Grades: Teague To Pacers, Hill To Jazz In 3-Team Deal

In a three-team trade involving the Utah Jazz, the Indiana Pacers shipped out George Hill and received Jeff Teague from the Atlanta Hawks. Here are some NBA trade grades.

While the Cleveland Cavaliers paraded their championship trophy through a throng of 1.3 million fans Wednesday, the NBA offseason officially began with the first major trade of the summer.

In a three-team deal first reported by The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Indiana Pacers agreed to send George Hill to the Utah Jazz for Jeff Teague, who was shipped out from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Utah’s No. 12 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.

The move is something of a victory for all three parties, putting Utah in closer proximity to a return to the playoffs, immersing Indiana further in the up-tempo style offense that Larry Bird wants his team to play, and giving Atlanta a different look moving forward.

To break it all down, here are some NBA trade grades for each team involved in the deal.

Next: Indiana Pacers

Indiana Pacers

If there were a “loser” in this deal, it’d be the Pacers, who punted on the final year ($8 million) of one of the league’s most underrated point guards in George Hill to bring in Teague, who is also on the final year ($8 million) of his contract.

While Teague fits more in line with the faster offense that the Pacers want to start utilizing, it also moves them further away from their defensive identity. Though Teague is not a bad defender, Hill was one of the best defenders for his position in the entire league.

Last season, the 28-year-old Teague averaged 15.7 points and 5.7 assists per game on 43.9 percent shooting from the floor and 40 percent shooting from three-point range. Meanwhile, the 30-year-old Hill put up 12.1 points and 3.5 assists per game on 44.1 percent shooting from the floor and 40.8 percent shooting from three-point range.

Teague is a faster-paced point guard, a better distributor and the younger option, but Hill is the better defender and more efficient three-point shooter for his career. With the Pacers looking to extend Teague right away, it’s somewhat curious they made a move like this.

Indiana’s backcourt may now have a bit of a problem on both ends of the floor. Though Teague is a solid floor general, there’s only one ball to go around between him, Monta Ellis and Rodney Stuckey, not to mention the team’s superstar, Paul George.

Both Teague and Ellis are ball-dominant guards, and though Ellis’ aggression on the perimeter led to quite a few steals last season, that backcourt is now undersized on the defensive end. Will Indiana be able to get any stops between Teague, Ellis and a second-year center in Myles Turner?

This isn’t a terrible trade for the Pacers, but it’s not necessarily a great one either, especially if Teague leaves in free agency next summer…or worse, a costly extension locks him down for the tail-end of his prime.

Grade: C

Next: Atlanta Hawks

Atlanta Hawks

For the Atlanta Hawks, this deal comes with some very obvious pros and cons. With Teague entering the final year of his contract and failing to build upon his All-Star season in 2014-15, it makes some sense the Hawks would be willing to move on from their starting point guard.

Teague fell apart against the Cavaliers in the playoffs for the second year in a row, his fourth quarter minutes were frequently auctioned off to Dennis Schroder and with Al Horford and Kent Bazemore hitting free agency this summer, getting Teague’s $8 million off the books frees up a ton of extra cap room that could be useful in re-signing them or finding their replacements.

With all that available cap space, it’s possible the Hawks could bring back Horford and Baze to keep the gang together…but if that’s the end goal, downgrading from Teague to the streaky, inexperienced Dennis Schroder isn’t going to help Atlanta get past that Cavs roadblock.

Another possibility? Atlanta is positioning itself for a rebuild, which would begin the moment Horford signed elsewhere — if indeed he did sign elsewhere, since Horford has persistently said he wants to return to the Hawks.

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the Hawks will be looking to deal their two first-round picks in this year’s draft to help make that happen:

But if Horford does give the indication that he’s leaving, Atlanta will have shipped out Teague, promoted the 22-year-old Schroder into the starting job, lost Horford, possibly lost Bazemore, garnered the No. 12 and No. 21 picks in the draft, and have around $40 million in cap space for future moves.

Handing the reins over to Schroder is a calculated, inevitable gamble. He’s going to take his lumps as the starting point guard, and this move certainly won’t help Atlanta advance further into the playoffs, but the Hawks may be better off for it in the long run.

Either way Atlanta is positioned for the future, though it remains to be seen what kind of future that is.

Grade: B

Next: Utah Jazz

Utah Jazz

For the Utah Jazz, this deal is pretty much a home run. Though they had to give up a lottery pick to get some long-awaited help at the point guard spot, this team is already bursting at the seams with young talent like Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward, Rudy Gobert, Rodney Hood, Dante Exum and Trey Lyles.

The Jazz didn’t need another late lottery pick at No. 12, so they turned it into a defensive-minded point guard who fits perfectly with Quin Snyder’s philosophy. Hill brings veteran experience, tough perimeter D and three-point shooting to a team that will welcome help in all three of those areas.

Though Hill only has one year left on his contact, many people thought the 2015-16 season was going to be the year this young core took the next step. Injuries and a shortage of talent at the point guard position derailed that hope, which puts the pressure on Utah to make it back to the postseason in 2016-17.

Adding Hill is a step in the right direction toward that goal, even if he doesn’t move the needle into the contender category. If all goes well for the Jazz, even a one-year rental of Hill would be enough to help make Utah build momentum as a more attractive free agency destination.

Taking away starter’s minutes from Exum may seem like an unfortunate byproduct of this trade, but Exum is coming off an ACL tear and is largely inexperienced still.

Giving him the chance to learn from one of the game’s better veterans is a phenomenal opportunity, though Utah needs to start pawning off its extra point guards on the roster with Hill, Exum, Trey Burke, Shelvin Mack and Raul Neto all on the books for next season.

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Giving up a lottery pick for a 30-year-old point guard doesn’t sound like a great move on paper, but as of right now, the Jazz are the clear winners of this trade as a team looking to make its way back to the playoffs and start building on all this young talent.

Grade: A-