Milwaukee Bucks Chasing Jeff Teague Again?

With the Atlanta Hawks reportedly shopping Jeff Teague, the latest Milwaukee Bucks trade rumors suggest they could be interested again.

The Atlanta Hawks are reported to be shopping their former All-Star point guard Jeff Teague, and so, the Milwaukee Bucks have been inevitably suggested as a potential destination.

Due to their own uncertainties at the point guard spot, it hasn’t been unusual for Milwaukee to be linked with available point guards, but there is more to this rumor than that. Jeff Teague has a history with the Bucks.

It’s one of the bigger “what if” scenarios in recent Bucks history. It was the summer of 2013 and Larry Drew had just taken over as head coach. There was plenty of uncertainty about Brandon Jennings‘ position with the team and the front office decided to go after Jeff Teague as a replacement, a point guard Drew was more than familiar with.

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Milwaukee offered Teague, a restricted free agent at the time, a four-year $32 million deal to come to the Bucks. It was a good offer, but it wasn’t exactly pushing the boat out.

Either way, Teague accepted. The Hawks were on the clock to match the deal and it looked likely that Teague would soon be a Buck, with the player even voicing his desire to leave for Milwaukee to the Atlanta front office.

The Hawks didn’t listen, and after three days they matched the deal, tying down one of the league’s more underrated point guards on what has become an increasingly nice piece of value for the Hawks.

Teague has gone from strength to strength, as have the Hawks, culminating in an All-Star appearance in last year’s 60 win, Eastern Conference finals season. The change also altered the landscape of the current Bucks, even with Teague staying in Atlanta.

The Bucks pursuit of the Indianapolis native marked Brandon Jennings cards in Milwaukee. After chasing down a replacement, it was going to be very difficult to turn back to Jennings and pretend he was their guy.

The team’s interest in Teague was ultimately the catalyst for the deal that brought Brandon Knight, Khris Middleton and, ultimately, Michael Carter-Williams to Brewtown. It’s a landmark moment that often goes unnoticed, yet now it’s time for it to return to the spotlight.

It’s clear the Bucks are willing to make deals. For as much as the will they, won’t they debates have reverberated around the fanbase in recent weeks, a recent Q&A general manager John Hammond gave to Charles Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel suggests that it will be business as usual for the front office. The Bucks are always shopping, and always prepared to pull the trigger on a deal that could improve the team.

"This time of the year we’re doing our due diligence. We’re on the phone; we’re talking to the other teams. We’re making calls; we’re receiving calls. We’ll evaluate and as the trade deadline draws near, we’ll see if there’s something we can do that may help our team."

Due diligence is effectively what Mike Budenholzer has suggested that the Hawks are doing with not just Teague, but many of their players too. It certainly wouldn’t be too much of a reach to suggest that they may have ended up dialing each others’ numbers at some stage over the past month or so.

What would Jeff Teague bring to the Bucks though? How would he fit in? What would it take to get him? Is he really worth pursuing?

Let’s answer all of that and more.

Next: What's Teague's Game All About?