Three Team Trade Hurts Boston’s Chances of Landing Horford
By Jeremy Karll
The Utah Jazz, Indiana Pacers, and Atlanta Hawks pulled off a three-team trade yesterday
While it can’t become official until July, the Utah Jazz, Indiana Pacers, and Atlanta Hawks kicked off the draft season with a big three-team trade – team officials have confirmed. Despite there being three teams involved, it was a fairly simply trade.
The Jazz ended up with George Hill, the Hawks received the 12th pick in the upcoming draft, and the Pacers ended up with Jeff Teague. It was a rare three team trade that benefits every team involved right away, with none coming out as clear losers.
The Jazz add a reliable point guard to their otherwise very good starting lineup, instead of adding another bench rookie with the 12th pick. It also allows the Jazz to develop their young point guard Dante Exum behind Hill until he’s ready to take over the starting role.
Indiana upgraded at the point guard position by basically doing a straight up trade for Teague. Hill is an underrated guard, however, with Frank Vogel out as head coach, it’s not surprising that they are trying to make moves this off-season. Teague should have a bounce back year as he’ll once again be ‘the guy’ in Indiana next season – not owning competition at the point guard position.
Atlanta has officially ended the Jeff Teague era by starting the Dennis Schroder era, which has been in the shadows for a couple of seasons now. They also landed the 12th pick in the draft, which they’re going to try to package with the 21st pick for an established veteran on draft night. The Hawks are hoping it helps them retain Al Horford this off-season, as they also opened up a lot of cap room to sign another top-tier free agent this summer.
Other than Indiana becoming a better team and being another challenge for the Boston Celtics next season, Atlanta’s side of the deal has huge implications on the type of off-season Boston will have. Horford is one of the most sought after free agents this season, although the Celtics seem like the most likely destination if he chooses to leave Atlanta.
Although the Hawks always seemed like an option for Horford this off-season, a rumor of a Jeff Teague and Nerlens Noel trade earlier this month made it seem like Atlanta was ready to move on from him. Instead, they cleared up enough cap space to re-sign both Horford and Kent Bazemore, and add another free agent this summer as well.
All of a sudden Atlanta went from being a team who was mildly interested in bringing back Horford to a team who will seemingly do anything to have him back. That will speak loudly to Horford this summer when deciding if he wants to stick with the only team he’s played with in the NBA. I think the extra cap space and their activeness in trying to get better puts Atlanta in the lead of retaining him.
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Not to mention that Atlanta now owns multiple first round draft picks, becoming competition with Boston in draft day trades. The Celtics do have an advantage over teams since they own the third pick in the draft, although, the 12th and 21st picks are a lot more appetizing than the 16th and 23rd picks in the draft.
Obviously it won’t land them a star, however, if they’re both going after a middle-tier player in a trade tonight, it could become a big advantage for Atlanta.
All three teams got better with this trade, but Atlanta’s portion of the deal has the biggest impact on the Celtics. Even if they keep the pick, they jumped into the lottery and will be able to add a solid, young player. They’re also in the range where a top-10 prospect could drop and land in their laps.
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At this point, it’s all just speculation about where Horford will play next season, however, it’s clear that Atlanta won’t go down without a fight when it comes to their multiple time All-Star center.