INDIANAPOLIS -- The Hometown Hero is home no-more, but he'll be replaced by another Indy native.
Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted Wednesday afternoon that a 3-way deal between the Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks and Utah Jazz will send the pride of IUPUI, George Hill, to Utah, Hawks PG Jeff Teague to the Pacers and Utah's 12th pick in the first round in the upcoming draft to Atlanta.
Wojnarowski also said the Pacers were working on a contract extension for Teague.
Teague, 28, is statistically a better all-around player than Hill with a Player Efficiency Rating of 17.98 vs. Hill's 13.22. Teague, who attended Pike High School in Indianapolis, averaged 15.7 points per game on 44 percent shooting from the field for a Hawks team that regressed in 2015-16 from a break-out 2014-15 season, but still made it to the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Wake Forest alum also averaged 4.9 assists per game, 1.2 steals per game and 2.8 turnovers per game.
The Pacers' new guard has a quick first step who can score, but can be careless with the ball. That's most likely because he spent the majority of time running the role-playing Hawks offense, which he'll see less of next to small forward Paul George.
The signing gives the Pacers a little more youth (Hill is 30) and athleticism at the point guard position.The two are only an inch different in height (Hill is 6'3", Teague 6'2") and Teague has missed fewer games in his career than Hill, doing a better job of staying out of injury trouble.
The Pacers played a more up-tempo style of play last season, and all signs point to a continued evolution of that style, especially with Teague on the roster and his ability to push the ball.
Three-way deal with Atlanta, Indiana and Utah, with George Hill going to the Jazz, league sources tell @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) June 22, 2016
Atlanta is sending guard Jeff Teague to Indiana as part of a three-way deal, league sources tell @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) June 22, 2016
Sources: Utah is sending the No. 12 pick in Thursday's Draft to Atlanta as part of deal that sends George Hill to Utah, Teague to Indy.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) June 22, 2016
Indiana has plans to work on signing Teague to a contract extension, league sources tell @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) June 22, 2016
Jeff Teague (Getty Images)
