NBA Trade Rumors: 10 Teams That Should Trade For Jeff Teague

6. Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers‘ identity is grounded in their defense, which currently ranks fourth in the league in defensive rating. George Hill‘s skills on that end make him intrinsic to that identity, but there’s no question that swapping Hill for Teague would be an upgrade for Indiana.

According to ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz and Brian Windhorst, the Pacers have made calls to the Hawks about Teague, “dangling” Hill as a potential return piece.

From the Hawks’ perspective, however, this trade doesn’t exactly accomplish their goal of getting younger with Hill being 29 years old. They’d be getting close to equal talent by trading for Hill, but what’s the point in a lateral move like this unless Indiana through in some sort of draft compensation? The Pacers probably wouldn’t offer anything more than a second-rounder, so this feels like a bit of a non-starter.

This season, Hill is averaging 13.0 points and 3.3 assists per game on .451/.433/.753 percent shooting splits, so he’s not having a bad year by any means. But Teague would help take the pressure off of Paul George to create so much of his offense and his penetration would open things up for PG-13 and Monta Ellis in slash-and-kick situations.

Hill is also two years older than Teague, which would help the Pacers get younger as they transition into an era built around Paul George and rookie Myles Turner. But if the Magic are really offering Oladipo — or, even if they’re not — the Hawks could probably do better than this.

Next: No. 5