NBA Free Agency 2017 Player Profile: Jeff Teague
By Ti Windisch
Salary
Point guards get paid. Teague, who shot 50-plus percent from three in the NBA Playoffs, will undoubtedly get paid too, unless he forgoes a large salary for a more desirable destination, which is always an option.
Reggie Jackson signed a five-year, $80 million deal a couple of years back. Here is a comparison of Jackson’s 2014-15 season, the one that directly proceeded his big payday, and Teague’s last season.
| Rk | Player | Season | Age | G | MP | FGA | FG% | 3PA | 3P% | eFG% | FTA | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reggie Jackson | 2014-15 | 24 | 77 | 29.5 | 12.9 | .434 | 3.1 | .299 | .470 | 2.8 | .830 | 4.2 | 6.0 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 14.5 |
| 2 | Jeff Teague | 2016-17 | 28 | 82 | 32.4 | 11.1 | .442 | 3.1 | .357 | .492 | 5.1 | .867 | 4.0 | 7.8 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 15.3 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/12/2017.
Aside from age and raw rebounds per game, Teague has Jackson in pretty much every department. Situations matter too, though–the Detroit Pistons looked to have a young core of Jackson, Andre Drummond and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope they wanted to lock in long-term.
The Pacers would love to keep Teague and Paul George, presumably, but keeping PG-13 might not be an option for Indiana. That would give the Pacers far less incentive to pay up for Teague, an older veteran who wouldn’t be helpful to a rebuild.
Somebody else could and likely will pay Teague, even if the Pacers don’t, though. The San Antonio Spurs seem to be in the market for a point guard, and maybe he can meet up with George in Los Angeles in a season or two. Either way, it’s tough to imagine Teague isn’t going to at least double his $8 million annual salary from his last deal.