Jeff Teague spent his first seven years in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks. His Hawks appeared in seven consecutive playoffs and he made his first all-star appearance in the 2014-15 NBA season where they won 60 games, But after seven years of falling short, Teague, and probably the Hawks too, realized that they have hit their ceiling and it was time to pull the plug.
Teague is now with the Indiana Pacers as part of the 3-team deal that sent George Hill to the Utah Jazz and the Jazz sending their number 12 pick (Taurean Prince) of the 2016 NBA draft to the Hawks.
He requested a trade prior to the season as it was clear that the Hawks were looking for other options to make it out of their playoff funk. The Hawks was giving Dennis Schroder more minutes at the point and they didn't look like the team that won 60 games anymore.
The Hawks were pretty much a sure playoff team coming into every season but were never seen as a championship contender. Something was always missing. They just couldn't get out of the eastern conference.
Hawks head coach and president of basketball operations Mike Budenholzer saw that and he knew something had to change. He pulled the plug and sent Teague back to his hometown Indianapolis and also allowed Al Horford to sign with the Boston Celtics.
Teague remembers the time when Budenholzer made the call to confirm the trade. "I sent you home," Budenholzer said. "Indiana?" he replied. "Yeah, I might regret this, but I'm thankful for what you did, and I appreciate you," Budenholzer added.
"You can only go so far," Teague said. "You can only do so much. I think we reached our ceiling with me and Al and that group when we won those 60 games. We followed up and didn't do as well the next year. We had a good season, but we pretty much knew it was over."
Jeff Teague definitely gave it his all when he was with the Hawks. Now he, and the Hawks, have an opportunity to carve a new road that will hopefully lead them to success, and hopefully a championship.