Jeff Teague appeared all but gone from the Atlanta Hawks. The restricted free agent had signed an offer sheet from Milwaukee Bucks. He had asked Hawks officials to let him go and start over as the Bucks expressed a lot of interest in bringing him on. However, over the weekend Atlanta decided to match the offer sheet from the Bucks and retain Teague.
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Hawks matched a four-year, $32 million offer sheet on Saturday. Atlanta had three days to match the offer from the Bucks after the team wanted the point guard to reunite with form Hawks' coach Larry Drew in Milwaukee. Atlanta will keep Teague at $8 million in salary per season.
Teague was ready to leave Atlanta. In an interview with Hawks general manager Danny Ferry, Teague had said the Bucks had a young nucleus of players and had told him he was the kind of player they could build around. He even went as far as asking Ferry not to match the offer sheet and let him move on. Ferry was not sold and after announcing that Teague would return, Ferry said, "We look forward to seeing him develop into even more of a leader on our team."
Atlanta was interested in both Milwaukee point guards, Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings. Ellis reportedly is headed to the Dallas Mavericks after finalizing a three-year deal with the team. It came down to who the Hawks thought was the better player between Jennings and Teague.
Teague has the better shooting percentage at 45.1 percent last season compared to Jennings' 39.9 percent. Teague also put up 7.2 assists per game last season while Jennings on managed 6.5 assists. With Teague leading in the two most important stat columns for a point guard, it was easy to see why the Hawks opted to match the offer. Teague's reputation of being a better facilitator secured his future in Atlanta.
New head coach Mike Budenholzer is happy to see Atlanta decided to bring back the young point guard. Teague's presence will be key for Budenholzer's long-term success in Atlanta.
"I'm very excited to have the opportunity to coach Jeff. He has a high level of talent. Keeping him with our group allows us to continue to build and improve going forward," Budenholzer said.
Jennings will now likely remain with Milwaukee; something the point guard had already expressed interest. Atlanta had considered a sign-and-trade for Jennings but now after retaining Teague, he will likely stay. The Bucks have discussed a new contract with Jennings worth around $12 million per season according to ESPN.com.
