NBA Trade Grades: Atlanta Hawks bring back Jeff Teague
By Phil Watson
Here are the NBA Trade Grades after the Atlanta Hawks Thursday sent Allen Crabbe to the Minnesota Timberwolves and got back Jeff Teague and Treveon Graham.
In just the second trade of the NBA regular season and the first in the new year, the Atlanta Hawks got a quality backup for young star Trae Young by re-acquiring Jeff Teague from the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The entire deal consisted of three players in a 2-for-1 swap, with all three on expiring contracts.
The Hawks, the only team in the NBA with cap space available, takes on Teague’s expiring $19 million contract as well as Graham’s expiring deal at $1.65 million, leaving Atlanta with $2.63 million in space under the salary cap, per Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights.
The Timberwolves, hard-capped after acquiring Jake Layman from the Portland Trail Blazers last summer in a sign-and-trade, free up some additional room under the luxury tax apron. Per Early Bird Rights, Minnesota is $23.86 million over the salary cap, but is now $9.48 million below the apron.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported the deal around midday Thursday on the East Coast.
Atlanta has traded guard Allen Crabbe to Minnesota for PG Jeff Teague and Treveon Graham, league sources tell ESPN. Hawks get a backup for Trae Young.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 16, 2020
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Minnesota had been seeking more shooting and will get that with Crabbe, at least in theory. He is a career 38.9 percent shooter from 3-point range, but in limited action with the Hawks, Crabbe is averaging just 5.1 points and 2.3 rebounds in 18.6 minutes per game while shooting 36.4 percent overall (a career-low) and 32.3 percent (ditto on the career-low) on 3.3 deep tries per game.
It’s the second straight season Crabbe is on target to shoot less than 40 percent overall, but this season his 3-point shooting has cratered from 37.8 percent last season.
Atlanta gets a legitimate point guard in Teague to play behind Young (as well as allowing Young some off-ball opportunities if they are paired together) after trying to get by with veteran Evan Turner and two-way contract signee Brandon Goodwin.
Here are the grades for the second NBA trade of the season.